Akari announces positive phase 2 data for bullous pemphigoid treatment

Initial phase 2 data show improvement in Bullous Pemphigoid Disease Area Index and blister score for the first of three patients treated with nomacopan, according to a press release from Akari Therapeutics.

The phase 2 trial is a 6-week, open-label, single-arm study evaluating safety and efficacy of nomacopan (Coversin) utilizing the Bullous Pemphigoid Disease Area Index (BPDAI) in up to nine patients with mild to moderate bullous pemphigoid.

“There is evidence that both terminal complement activation (C5) and the lipid mediator leukotriene B4 (LTB4) have a central role in driving the disease,” according to the press release.

A previous study showed an increased accumulation of LTB4 and C5 and its activation products in the inflamed skin of patients with bullous pemphigoid disease, according to the company.

Nomacopan is a C5 complement inhibitor that also independently and specifically inhibits leukotriene B4 activity.

With treatment of nomacopan, at day 7, 21 and 42, the BPDAI global score fell by a mean of 31%, 45% and 52%, and blisters/erosions dropped by a mean of 45%, 75% and 87%, respectively.

The results are encouraging and may potentially led to bullous pemphigoid resolution without the side effects caused by standard steroidal treatments, Detlef Zillikens, MD, professor in the department of dermatology at the University of Lubeck, Germany, said in the press release.

Nomacopan is also being evaluated in atopic keratoconjunctivitis, thrombotic microangiography and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

Akari is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing inhibitors of acute and chronic inflammation, specifically for the treatment of rare and orphan disease.