Clinical stage specialty pharmaceutical company Pacific Therapeutics has announced its new strategy for 2015, as well as corporate updates to its shareholders, expressing its continued focus on the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis. The company, which uses its proprietary technologies to reformulate drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and improve both efficacy and compliance, has combined two drugs to create a novel therapy for the disease, in collaboration with IntelGenx Corp.
In 2014, Pacific Therapeutics completed its phase 1 clinical and preclinical studies for experimental therapy PTL-202, a once-a-day tablet for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). By combining the two FDA-approved drugs, Pacific and IntelGenx were able to design a therapy that revealed positive interaction, resulting in the ability to deliver smaller doses of medication, according to a press release from the company.
The preclinical studies conducted in animals demonstrated that the PTL-202 drug combination is more effective than each of its components individually in the decrease of both inflammation and fibrosis. European authorities approved the patent covering the technology in PTL-202 in 2014, and the company has announced that it is going to continue its efforts with public health authorities in other countries, such as the United States.
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In addition, there were several major development regarding IPF in the past year that Pacific sees as positive for future drug development for the disease, including a $8.3 billion deal that will give InterMune access to the approved IPF therapy Prifenidone from Roche Holdings, as well as the recently signed $444 million purchase of Galecto, which is being tested as an IPF treatment in a phase 1 clinical trial by BMS.
Given the recent interest of large-cap pharmaceutical companies in the field of pulmonary fibrosis and earlier stage therapies, Pacific is dedicated to continuing its efforts for the development and commercialization of PTL-202. Therefore, the company is planning on initiating a phase 1b dose ranging study for PTL-202 in humans this year, followed by a phase 2 proof of concept study to start in 2016.