Therabron Therapeutics recently presented a study titled “Modification of CC10 Protein by Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) during Acute Lung Injury” that introduces a program designed to develop several novel isoforms of the company’s lead product candidate, recombinant human CC10 protein (rhCC10), at the 2016 Biology of Acute Respiratory Tract Infection, Gordon Research Conference held in Galveston, Texas, Feb. 21-26.
Therabron Therapeutics, based in Rockville, Maryland, is dedicated to developing new standards in respiratory care. The company is currently advancing a platform of novel therapeutic proteins in an effort to change the way some respiratory and fibrotic conditions are managed, using a new class of drugs based on the naturally occurring secretoglobin family of proteins, including Clara cell 10kDa protein (CC10) – a molecule with both anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties.
CC10 is expressed by respiratory epithelial cells and plays a pivotal role in the protection of the lungs by inhibiting multiple inflammatory pathways. Previous studies confirmed that excessive inflammation in respiratory disease can lead to significant alterations of the native CC10 protein. These recent reports have allowed Therabron to develop rhCC10 isoforms ex-vivo from the simulation of chemical reactions that would occur in in-vivo respiratory inflammatory conditions.
“These observations enhance the potentially transformative impact that rhCC10-based therapeutics could have in the future. In addition to our lead, hospital-focused Phase 2 program, we are pursuing development initiatives focused on ambulatory respiratory disease with confirmed deficiency in native CC10, including COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease],” Therabron President and CEO Thomas F. Miller said in a press release. “We have created a number of isoforms of rhCC10 with the goal of evaluating their application in chronic respiratory disease and we are actively pursuing a series of exclusivities to protect these newly discovered molecules.”
Therabron’s lead product candidate, rhCC10 protein (CG100) is now being delivered to preterm infants through intratracheal instillation in a Phase II clinical trial, aiming to reduce long-term chronic respiratory morbidities, or bronchopulmonary dysplasia, after hospital discharge.
The trial, titled “Efficacy of Recombinant Human Clara Cell 10 Protein (rhCC10) Administered to Premature Neonates With Respiratory Distress Syndrome,” is designed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, safety, tolerability, and anti-inflammatory effects of a single intratracheal dose of rhCC10 to premature infants, after receiving treatment for respiratory distress syndrome.