Potentia Pharmaceuticals' AMD drug candidate well-tolerated in phase 1 study

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Potentia Pharmaceuticals has successfully completed a phase 1 clinical trial of its lead drug candidate, a complement factor C3 inhibitor for treating age-related macular degeneration, the company announced in a press release.

The open-label, multicenter ASaP (Assessment of safety of intravitreal POT-4 therapy for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration) study showed that the current formulation of the drug, called POT-4, was well-tolerated by all patients at all doses with no serious adverse events or inflammation.

Additionally, serum analyses showed that significant sustained levels of POT-4 were consistently measured in patients who received the highest dose studied. The current POT-4 formulation is expected to provide sustained therapeutic ocular levels of the drug for several months after a single injection, the release said.

Based on these data, Potentia plans to implement a comprehensive phase 2 clinical program to further define the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetic profile of POT-4 for treating wet and dry AMD.

"The safety and pharmacokinetic data strongly support the further development of POT-4 as a first-in-class treatment for patients with AMD," Cedric Francois, president and chief executive officer of Potentia Pharmaceuticals, said in the release. "We believe that POT-4 has significant promise based on these early-stage findings and look forward to further testing of POT-4 in this disease, which is so prevalent and devastating to those affected by it."