Progenity Shares Oral Presentation on Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders at 34th Belgian Week of Gastroenterology
Dr. Bram Verstockt presented key patient data establishing correlation between drug levels in colon and clinical outcomes
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Progenity, Inc. (Nasdaq: PROG), a biotechnology company innovating in the field of oral biotherapeutics for gastrointestinal health and beyond, today shared an oral presentation that was delivered by Dr. Bram Verstockt during the 34th edition of the Belgian Week of Gastroenterology on February 9, 2022.
During the oral presentation titled “Tofacitinib tissue exposure correlates with endoscopic outcome,” lead author Dr. Verstockt presented patient data demonstrating a significant relationship between mucosal exposure and endoscopic improvement in patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis who were treated with tofacitinib.
“These data support the hypothesis that targeted delivery of tofacitinib to the site of disease has the potential to improve patient outcomes. This will be further explored in clinical trials with PGN-600 to determine whether Progenity’s targeted approach can increase mucosal exposure and decrease systemic exposure,” said Adi Mohanty, Chief Executive Officer of Progenity. “With this technology, we anticipate successful delivery of higher therapeutic doses directly to the mucosa while avoiding current issues with toxicity due to systemic uptake. We thank the clinical teams responsible for this independent study, in particular those at IBD Leuven and Amsterdam UMC, for their excellent work toward our shared goal of better therapeutic efficacy for IBD patients.”
A replay of the presentation is available by visiting the “Publications” section of the Progenity website.
About the Drug Delivery System (DDS) and PGN-600
Progenity’s Drug Delivery System (DDS) is an ingestible capsule designed for targeted delivery of therapeutics to improve treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). For the 1.8 million patients in the United States who suffer from IBD, existing therapeutics offer less than ideal efficacy, likely because of the challenges with safely achieving sufficient drug levels in the affected tissues.
The DDS targeted therapeutics platform utilizes a novel approach that could improve IBD patient outcomes by maximizing the available dose at the site of disease while reducing systemic toxicity. Once swallowed, the capsule is designed to autonomously identify when it has arrived at a specific location in the gastrointestinal tract and release a therapeutic dose at the site of disease. The DDS is approximately the size of a “000” capsule, the size of many fish oil capsules. It is designed to deliver a range of liquid formulations in amounts up to 500 µL. In normal healthy volunteers, the DDS was shown to be safe and accurate in identifying entry into the colon. Progenity is a recipient of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation IBD Ventures development grant to support development and further clinical evaluation of the DDS platform.
Progenity is developing the PGN-600 program, which consists of oral liquid formulation of tofacitinib delivered to the colon via the DDS capsule, for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. The company has shown preclinically in canines that successful targeted delivery using PGN-600 can lead to reduced drug levels in blood and increased drug levels in tissue at least 25 times higher along the length of the colon as compared to the equivalent standard oral dose. Progenity expects to initiate a phase 1 clinical trial of PGN-600 in late 2022.
About Progenity
Progenity, Inc. is a biotechnology company innovating in the fields of oral biotherapeutics, gastrointestinal health, and women’s health. Progenity applies a multi-omics approach, combining genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to its molecular testing products and to the development of a suite of investigational ingestible devices designed to provide precise diagnostic sampling and drug delivery solutions. Progenity’s vision is to transform healthcare to become more precise and personal by improving diagnoses of disease and improving patient outcomes through localized treatment with targeted therapies.
For more information visit www.progenity.com, or follow the company on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Forward Looking Statements
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Investor Contact
Chuck Padala
Managing Director, LifeSci Advisors
ir@progenity.com
(917) 741-7792
Media Contact
Kristin Schaeffer
CG Life
media@progenity.com
(858) 457-2436
