PPMD Awards Akashi Therapeutics, Inc. $500,000 Grant

Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) has awarded Akashi Therapeutics, Inc. (Akashi) a $500,000 grant to fund clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of an investigational new drug known as HT-100 (delayed-release halofuginone). HT-100 is an orally available small molecule drug candidate being developed to reduce fibrosis and inflammation and to promote healthy muscle fiber regeneration in Duchenne patients. The application of HT-100 to Duchenne and other fibrotic diseases is based on pioneering work by Dr. Mark Pines at the Volcani Institute in Israel. Akashi, led by CEO Marc Blaustein, has been granted orphan designation for Duchenne in both the U.S. and EU, as well as Fast Track designation in the U.S. A phase 1b/2a clinical program is currently underway at five hospitals across the U.S. The grant will be used to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of HT-100 in patients with Duchenne in both a phase 1b open-label, single and multiple ascending dose study and a phase 2a extension study. Funding for the project from PPMD has been awarded based on a positive review by PPMD’s Scientific Advisory Committee, composed of key clinicians and scientists in the field and upon the basis of a review by the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee on Therapeutics (TACT), whose review activities are supported, in part, by PPMD. Preclinical studies in young mice that lack dystrophin demonstrated that HT-100 reduced the amount of fibrosis that accumulates in the h...
Source: Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy - Category: Neurology Source Type: news