French pharmaceutical firm Inventiva will present novel data on its new anti-fibrotic product, IVA337, during the 15th International Workshop on Scleroderma Research, to be held Aug. 5-9 at the University of Pittsburgh.
The abstract, “PAN-PPAR Agonist IVA337 is Effective in the Prevention of Experimental Lung Fibrosis and Pulmonary Hypertension,” was selected among the best papers at the upcoming meeting. It summarizes a study on systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients who also have lung fibrosis.
SSc is a multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis in the skin and internal organs, as well as blood vessel anomalies and an altered immune system.
“The paper highlights new data, which confirm the wide anti-fibrotic activity of IVA337, especially in the organs of patients affected by SSc,” Yannick Allanore, principal investigator and president of the European Scleroderma Trials and Research Group, said in a news release. “The preservation of pulmonary activity is impressive and could indicate that IVA337 could meet a high unmet medical need in SSc patients.”
The study showed that treatment with IVA337 protects patients from lung fibrosis, thereby improving respiratory function. It also prevents changes in lung arteries, which improves the pulmonary artery pressure of SSc patients. Together, these results suggest that IVA337 treatment helps patients in multiple ways by improving their skin condition, lung fibrosis and cardiorespiratory function.
“We are very pleased to have been selected among the best papers being presented during this international systemic sclerosis congress,” said Pierre Broqua, Inventiva’s chief scientific officer and co-founder. “The congress draws interest from leaders in translational medicine and we are proud to see the high level of interest in the activity of IVA337 among this elite group.”
In 2016, Inventiva announced the results of two studies showing that IVA337 treatment halted the development of fibrosis in organs affected by SSc, such as lungs, liver, kidneys and skin.
IVA337 is a next‐generation Pan PPAR agonist. That means it acts on a group of proteins called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), whose function is to regulate the expression of other genes and their corresponding proteins.