LONDON, Nov. 27 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Arrow Therapeutics, the London
based antiviral drug discovery and development company, has announced that it
has initiated a Phase I study of A-831, a small molecule antiviral inhibitor
of Hepatitis C infection. The study will evaluate the safety, tolerability
and pharmacokinetics of single escalating doses of A-831 in healthy
volunteers in the UK.
A-831 targets the NS5a protein, a novel mechanism of action, and is the
first NS5a inhibitor to enter the clinic. Originating from Arrow's focused
chemical library and optimised in-house, A-831 showed good safety and
pharmacokinetics in preclinical studies and excellent potency in the replicon
assay. A-831 is the first compound from Arrow's broad approach to the NS5a
target. A further Arrow compound, also targeting the NS5a protein but of a
completely different chemical structure, is expected to enter preclinical
development shortly.
The urgent need for novel Hepatitis C inhibitors has been well
documented, with an estimated 170 million sufferers worldwide. The current
Standard of Care treatment (Pegylated Interferon + ribavirin) has a poor side
effect profile and is only effective in around 50% of patients. As with
HIV/AIDS, multiple drugs in combination therapy are likely to be needed to
overcome drug resistance. The value of the Hepatitis C market was
approximately $2.2 billion in 2005 and is forecast to grow substantially to
$4.4 billion in 2010 and $8.8 billion in 2015.
"The start of the first clinical trial for a compound from our Hepatitis
C programme is a significant milestone for the company," said Ken Powell, CEO
of Arrow. "From the inception of Arrow we have been committed to producing
potent, innovative inhibitors of Hepatitis C and believe that compounds such
as A-831 will bring us a step closer to successfully treating the huge number
of patients suffering from the virus worldwide. Preclinical results for A-831
have been extremely encouraging and we look forward to this next stage of
development for the compound, as well as the advancement of other compounds
within our Hepatitis C programmes."
Notes to Editors
Arrow Therapeutics
Arrow Therapeutics was founded in 1998, and is focused exclusively on
novel antiviral drug discovery and development. Based in central London with
around 55 employees, the product pipeline includes novel antiviral lead and
clinical compounds. Arrow's lead programme to treat Respiratory Syncytial
Virus (RSV) is in Phase lla clinical studies and is partnered with Novartis.
The Hepatitis C programme consists of multiple series from different chemical
classes. The most advanced compounds inhibit NS5a, a novel viral target. The
lead compound, A-831, has now entered Phase I trials (see above). A second
series, of completely different chemical structure but also targeting NS5a,
is at candidate selection stage. Arrow also has a Hepatitis C polymerase
programme in lead optimisation.
Compounds will be licensed at stages between preclinical and Phase IIb
depending on the therapeutic area.
Seed funding of GBP1.5 million was provided by Unibio of London who also
invested in the first major funding round completed in July 2000 along with
GIMV Belgium (lead), Alta Partners USA, 3i Group London, TVM Munich, and NVM
Edinburgh which brought in GBP11.1 million. The same group provided a further
GBP7 million in January 2002. The latest funding round was completed in early
2004 raising over GBP23 million from the USA, Japan and Europe. Atlas Venture
is now the lead investor.
http://www.arrowt.co.uk