Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc said it has completed enrollment in a Phase 2 study for its repurposed drug NP-120 (Ifenprodil) aimed at idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic, progressive lung disease and chronic cough.
The Vancouver-based clinical-stage pharmaceutical development company is projecting a data readout in calendar second-quarter 2022.
“We are very pleased to announce this update to the market on our IPF and chronic cough study and we look forward to having it completed and presenting the data,” Algernon Pharmaceuticals CEO Christopher J Moreau said in a statement.
READ: Algernon Pharmaceuticals granted Ifenprodil patent for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Canada
The company said that the purpose of this proof-of-concept open-label 20 patient Phase 2 human trial is to determine the efficacy of Ifenprodil in the preservation of lung function in IPF patients (including biomarkers of fibrosis) and its associated cough.
There are seven sites in total participating in the study with five located in Australia and two in New Zealand.
Ifenprodil has been shown to mediate anti-inflammatory responses and reduce pulmonary fibrosis in a mouse model of IPF. In addition, Ifenprodil significantly both reduced cough frequency and delayed onset in a guinea pig acute cough model.
Ifenprodil is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist specifically targeting the NMDA-type subunit 2B (GluN2B). The NMDA receptor is found on many tissues including lung cells, T-cells, and neutrophils.
Algernon is a drug repurposing company that investigates safe, already approved drugs for new disease applications. It has taken generic neurological drug Ifenprodil that Sanofi developed in the 1970s, which is approved for use in South Korea and Japan and is attempting to repurpose it as a potential chronic cough and IPF treatment.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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