Partners are advancing anti-inflammatory approach to treat underlying cause of asthma and COPD.
Argenta Discovery and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories achieved a major milestone in their development program targeting a novel disease-modifying approach to treat the underlying cause of certain chronic respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and severe asthma.
“Just 18 months after signing the deal with Dr. Reddy’s, the team has already selected the first candidate drug to proceed into preclinical development,” Argenta’s CEO Christopher Ashton, comments. “We are very excited by the exceptional progress this program has made within such a short timeframe. With GMP material already manufactured, we are on target to enter Phase I in mid-2008 and Phase II in 2009. We believe we are first-in-class for this inhaled anti-inflammatory approach to treat chronic respiratory disease.”
Under the terms of the licensing agreement announced in February 2006, Argenta and Dr. Reddy’s are collaborating to identify clinical candidates against an undisclosed, but proven, anti-inflammatory drug target and to develop these candidates to Phase II proof-of-concept.