AnaMar has rejigged its pipeline priorities after digging through the data from its failed Phase IIa trial. The trial missed its primary endpoint of reducing pain in people with mild to moderate osteoarthritis pain, but a post hoc subgroup analysis has persuaded AnaMar it was trialling the right drug in the wrong indication.
 |
| AnaMar CEO Owe Gårlin |
Gothenburg, Sweden-based AnaMar will now focus development on severe inflammation and fibrosis. When AnaMar posted Phase IIa data in October, it pointed to the response of people with high inflammation levels to its drug--AMAP102--as a bright spot in the data. Subsequent work correlating serum concentrations with clinical responses--and the discovery that the treatment arm needed less rescue medication--have caused AnaMar to view AMAP102 as a treatment for severe inflammation.
The sort of subgroup analyses that led AnaMar to reach this conclusion have a mixed record when it comes to unearthing effective drugs from failed trials. AnaMar is also looking beyond inflammation in its attempts to bring AMAP102--a 5-HT2B receptor antagonist--to market. The role of 5-HT2B in lung fibrosis prompted AnaMar to run preclinical tests of AMAP102 in the indication. And the data from these tests led to AnaMar and Lund University deciding to continue collaborating on fibrosis.
AnaMar has openly been searching for a partner for AMAP102 and the rest of its peripheral 5-HT receptor platform since it posted the Phase IIa data in October. The Swedish biotech last raised money in January 2013, when Koncentra Holding provided SEK 45 million ($5.5 million).
- read the release
Back to EuroBiotech index >>