About NP-178 (Emoxypine)
The Company’s lead drug for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is Emoxypine (NP-178), an orally delivered small molecule. The drug is currently one of the top 5 selling drugs on the essential medicines list in Russia for the treatment of several neurological conditions.
The Company observed that NP-178 (Emoxypine) exhibited highly statistically significant activity in both Chrohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) models, paralleling or outperforming standard of care treatment 5 amino salicylic (5-ASA). Although it is an effective front-line therapy, up to 50% of patients fail on 5-ASA and move on to other treatment regimens, which have undesirable and serious side effects (e.g. steroids).
Further, in the UC study, Algernon’s NP-120 (Ifenprodil) which was recently announced as its lead drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), displayed significant anti-diarrheal properties. This is noteworthy because Pirfenidone, one of two approved therapies for IPF, often causes severe diarrhea which reduces compliance.
Emoxypine (6-methyl-2-ethyl-3-hydroxypyridine) is a highly genericized and widely used drug available in Russia and the Ukraine. The branded commercial form (Mexidol) is currently undergoing phase III testing for ischemic stroke by Pharmasoft, a Russian specialty pharmaceutical company. It appears to have anti-hypoxic activities and possible Nrf2 modulation.
Crohn's:
Data
Data from the latest pre-clinical animal in vivo study demonstrated statistically significant improvements in multiple measurements over multiple time points relevant to CD including:
- Body weight (p<0.001), occult positivity (p<0.05), colon weight (p<0.05), colon length (p<0.001) and the colon weight/length ratio (p<0.001).
- NP-178 compared very favourably to the control, 5-ASA, the current standard of care for IBD.
- No negative side effects were observed.
Colitis:
Data
Data from the latest pre-clinical animal in vivo study demonstrated statistically significant improvements in multiple measurements over multiple time points relevant to ulcerative colitis including:
- Body weight, stool consistency, colon length and weight ratios and occult positivity (p<0.001 to p<0.05).
- NP-178 compared very favourably to the control, 5-ASA, the current standard of care for IBD.
- No negative side effects were observed.