AlzeCure Presents New Positive Data for the TrkA-NAM Pain Project Against Osteoarthritis

STOCKHOLM, SE / ACCESSWIRE / October 28, 2024 / AlzeCure Pharma (STO:ALZCUR)(FRA:AC6) AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) (FN STO:ALZCUR), a pharmaceutical company that develops candidate drugs for CNS diseases, focusing on Alzheimer’s disease and pain, today announced that it has obtained new positive preclinical efficacy data supporting the continued development of the candidate drug ACD137 within the TrkA-NAM program.

The new in vivo data, obtained in a rat model of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee, show significant pain relief in both movement-induced and evoked pain as well as a significant anti-inflammatory effect. The analgesic effect of ACD137 is in line with the effect of the anti-NGF antibody Tanezumab, which have in several clinical trials demonstrated significant and robust pain relief, showing that ACD137 can reach the same efficacy as Tanezumab at the investigated doses.

Repeated administration of ACD137 for 18 days was well tolerated and there were no clinical symptoms or histopathological findings of rapidly progressing OA (RPOA), a problematic side effect observed for anti-NGF antibodies, including Tanezumab, nor were any effects seen on neuronal ganglia.

ACD137 was also found to display a protective effect towards articular cartilage damage. Treatment with ACD137 resulted in significantly less chondral lesions and prevented deterioration of the articular cartilage as measured by the use of modified Mankin scores. ACD137 treatment also significantly improved a number of cartilage and knee joint structural parameters suggesting a protective effect on knee-joint function in a model of osteoarthritis.

ACD137 blocks NGF-mediated signaling via TrkA receptors, a biological mechanism with strong genetic, preclinical and clinical validation for its role in pain. The new preclinical data further strengthens previous positive analgesic results obtained with ACD137 in preclinical models of osteoarthritis, neuropathic pain and post-operative pain and further emphasizes its broad applicability in various severe pain states, including osteoarthritis.

“Our TrkA-NAM project aims to retain the potent analgesic effects of the NGF-antibodies, but avoid their side-effects, and our drug candidate, ACD137, is a very good example of the highly potent and selective substances that we have developed in the project. The new results show potent pain relief in a preclinically established model of osteoarthritis, and provides a clear validation of our research and development platform,” said Pontus Forsell, Head of Discovery and Research at AlzeCure.

“Interest in TrkA-NAM has increased further after Asahi Kasei recently started its phase 2b study with AK-1830 against knee osteoarthritis, which validates AlzeCure’s project, where we have developed molecules that are even more potent and selective than AK-1830,” said Martin Jönsson, CEO of AlzeCure Pharma. “The combination of potent analgesic effects and anti-inflammatory action could provide significant pain relief for patients, and also opens up other possible indications”.

For more information, please contact

Martin Jönsson, CEO
Tel: +46 707 86 94 43
martin.jonsson@alzecurepharma.com

About AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ)

AlzeCure® is a Swedish pharmaceutical company that develops new innovative drug therapies for the treatment of severe diseases and conditions that affect the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer’s disease and pain – indications for which currently available treatment is very limited. The company is listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market and is developing several parallel drug candidates based on three research platforms: NeuroRestore®, Alzstatin® and Painless.

NeuroRestore consists of two symptomatic drug candidates where the unique mechanism of action allows for multiple indications, including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as cognitive disorders associated with traumatic brain injury, sleep apnea and Parkinson’s disease, as well as for depression treatment. The Alzstatin platform focuses on developing disease-modifying and preventive drug candidates for early treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and comprises two drug candidates. Painless is the company’s research platform in the field of pain and contains two projects: ACD440, which is a drug candidate in the clinical development phase for the treatment of neuropathic pain, and TrkA-NAM, which targets severe pain in conditions such as osteoarthritis. AlzeCure aims to pursue its own projects through preclinical research and development through an early clinical phase, and is continually working on business development to find suitable outlicensing solutions, alternatively partnership, with other pharmaceutical companies.

FNCA Sweden AB is the company’s Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit www.alzecurepharma.se .

About TrkA-NAM
The TrkA-NAM project, which is in research phase, is focused on the treatment of pain. The target mechanism, NGF / TrkA signaling, is well-validated both preclinically and clinically and provides a promising alternative to new analgesics without the side effects and addiction problems observed with opioids. Substances developed in the project have recently been shown to also have anti-inflammatory properties.

For the TrkA-NAM drug project, we have leveraged our knowledge concerning the underlying biology for the NeuroRestore platform in order to develop new compounds that focus on providing pain relief in conditions associated with severe pain.

The goal of the project is to develop a small-molecule TrkA-negative allosteric modulator for the treatment of osteoarthritis pain and other severe pain disorders. The global osteoarthritis market is expected to reach USD 11.0 billion by 2025, from USD 7.3 billion in 2020. Growth in this market is driven by factors such as the increasing occurrence of osteoarthritis, the growing aging population, and an increase in the number of sports injuries. Over 400 million people worldwide suffer from painful and activity-limiting osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. Many patients experience insufficient pain relief or side effects with current treatment, which today usually consist of NSAIDs or opiates and there is a great need for more effective and better tolerated drugs in this field. Read more about TrkA-NAM on our homepage .

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Martin Jönsson CEO And Pontus Forsell Head Of D&R AlzeCure Pharma

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AlzeCure presents new positive data for the TrkA-NAM pain project against osteoarthritis

SOURCE: AlzeCure Pharma

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