omniture

Arrow Therapeutics HCV Compound Enters Phase I

Arrow Therapeutics Ltd
2006-11-24 08:53 1062

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

Source: Arrow Therapeutics Ltd
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