Innovation Pharmaceuticals Announces Dose Escalati
Post# of 72440
WAKEFIELD, MA – January 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Innovation Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:IPIX) (“the Company”), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, announced today that the Company has received agreement from the study’s Dose Escalation Committee (DEC) to progress dosing to the second cohort in its Phase 1 trial to investigate the use of delayed release tablets for colonic delivery of Brilacidin in healthy volunteers.
Safety findings from the first cohort were reviewed by the DEC. The Principal Medical Investigator and Sponsor agreed it acceptable to increase the dose of Brilacidin for administration to a second cohort per trial design. Dosing of the second cohort is scheduled for Tuesday, January 21, 2020.
Dosing of the third and final cohort is anticipated to be completed by the end of January, with topline data to follow shortly thereafter.
In this Phase 1 clinical trial, nine subjects will be enrolled in the single-center, randomized, single-blinded, placebo-controlled, single dose-escalation trial, three subjects per cohort. In each cohort, two subjects will receive Brilacidin (cohort 1: 50mg; cohort 2: 100mg; and cohort 3: 200mg) and one subject will receive placebo. Assessments will include the safety, toleration, and pharmacokinetics of oral Brilacidin, and whether the drug is being dispersed directly in the colon through the use of delayed release tablets, as assessed by gamma scintigraphy.
About Brilacidin for IBD
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a hard-to-treat, chronic, autoimmune condition that affects approximately 10 million people worldwide, including 3 million people in the U.S., with 70,000 newly diagnosed cases each year. The overall GI market sector is estimated to grow from $35.7 billion in 2015 to $48.4 billion by 2022. Brilacidin is being developed as a novel, non-corticosteroid, non-biologic treatment, with formulation plans including oral tablets for Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, and enema, foam and/or gel for mild-to-moderate Ulcerative Proctitis/Ulcerative Proctosigmoiditis (UP/UPS), two types of IBD. As released previously, a majority of patients treated with Brilacidin administered via retention enema achieved Clinical Remission (Modified Mayo scoring) in a Phase 2, open-label, Proof-of-Concept (PoC) clinical trial evaluating Brilacidin for UP/UPS. In addition, mucosal healing was evidenced by endoscopic review, an increasingly important measure toward establishing a drug’s efficacy. In late 2018, the Company presented a scientific poster—Brilacidin for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (available for download here, pdf)—at the inaugural “IBD Innovate 2018” conference, hosted by the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. Brilacidin may be particularly beneficial in treating IBD due to: 1) its ability to inhibit Phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4), which is being pursued as a novel therapeutic avenue in IBD; and 2) its potential to compensate for defensin deficiencies that are implicated in the pathogenesis of IBD.