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Novel antihypertensive agent shows positive topline results
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Quantum Genomics announced that its novel antihypertensive agent was associated with positive topline results in an early study in patients with hypertension.
In the phase 2a study of the agent (QGC001, Quantum Genomics), a brain aminopeptidase A inhibitor, in 34 patients with moderate grade I or II hypertension, there were positive signals associated with the agent compared with placebo for the primary outcome of decrease in daytime systolic BP as measured by ambulatory BP and for other endpoints, the company stated in a press release.
In the double blind, crossover study, patients received two 28-day regimens, one of QCG001 and one of placebo, with a 14-day washout period in between, according to the release.
“This is a new class of drug targeting brain-level aminopeptidase,” Lionel Ségard, chairman and CEO of Quantum Genomics, said in an interview with Cardiology Today. “There are three mechanisms of action in one single drug. This brain aminopeptidase A inhibitor prevents the conversion of angiotensin II into angiotensin III at the brain level, which results in decreasing the release of vasopressin, a decrease in sympathetic nerve activity and an increase in baroreflex. Vasopressin is particularly important in this triple mechanism of action.”
The full results will be presented at an upcoming medical meeting, which may be the European Society of Hypertension meeting in June 2017 in Milan, the company stated in the release.
Quantum Genomics also announced that it met with the FDA on the design of a phase 2 trial to evaluate QGC001 in a targeted population of U.S. patients with hypertension, and that it plans to submit an investigational new drug application for that study in the first half of 2017.
“We believe that one of the key components of treating patients with hypertension successfully is to target a specific profile: patients with low renin and vasopressin whose hypertension is mostly uncontrolled with existing drugs such as ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers,” Ségard told Cardiology Today. “This profile is overexpressed in Asian, African and Hispanic populations. The phase 2 trial will target those populations, where the unmet medical need remains huge and a new class of drug is needed. According to WHO, 9.4 million people die every year due to complications from high BP. We are committed to making a difference for those patients.”
The phase 2 study will have a follow-up between 8 weeks and 3 months, and the company will extend toxicology studies on rats and dogs for that long before filing its investigational new drug application, Ségard said. – by Erik Swain
For more information:
Lionel Ségard can be reached at lionel.segard@quantum-genomics.com.
Disclosure: Ségard is an employee of Quantum Genomics.