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Auven Therapeutics and BELLUS Health Announce Licence Agreement with Mount Sinai for KIACTA(TM) in Sarcoidosis
NEW YORK, NY and LAVAL, QC , May 2, 2014 /CNW/ - Auven Therapeutics, the global privat...
About this update from Bluenergies Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\nNEW YORK, NY and LAVAL, QC, May 2, 2014 /CNW/ - Auven Therapeutics, the\n global private equity company focused on accelerated development of\n breakthrough therapeutic drugs and BELLUS Health Inc. (TSX: BLU), a\n drug development company focused on rare diseases, today announced that\n Auven has entered into a license agreement with the Icahn School of\n Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, under which Auven obtains rights\n to develop KIACTA™ (eprodisate) as a treatment for chronic sarcoidosis.\n\n\nAuven intends to conduct a Phase II (proof-of-concept) clinical trial to\n evaluate KIACTA™'s effectiveness and safety to treat certain medical\n manifestations of sarcoidosis. KIACTA™ is aimed at addressing the\n disease process (i.e. pathophysiology) in sarcoidosis patients. Auven\n expects to finalize a study protocol by mid-year and anticipates that\n the trial will start dosing patients in the fourth quarter of 2014. The\n Phase II trial is expected to be completed within approximately 18\n months of the time the first patient is enrolled.\n\n\nThe idea to use KIACTA™ as a treatment for chronic sarcoidosis was\n developed by Adam S. Morgenthau, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at\n the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.   Dr. Morgenthau is the\n director of the Sarcoidosis Clinic at Mount Sinai, one of the largest centers of its kind in the U.S., and which\n specializes in treating patients with complex cases of sarcoidosis.\n \"KIACTA™'s mechanism of action, and its benign safety profile\n demonstrated to date, make it an attractive clinical candidate for a\n proof-of-concept study in patients with chronic sarcoidosis, a disease\n whose current treatments may cause debilitating long-term side\n effects,\" said Dr. Morgenthau.\n\n\nSarcoidosis is a rare condition that causes small patches of red and swollen tissue\n - called granulomas - that can develop in multiple organs in the body,\n but mostly in the lungs and skin. The disease affects approximately\n 120,000 patients in the US alone and identification of an effective\n treatment is a major unmet medical need. While acute sarcoidosis can\n improve on its own, chronic sarcoidosis can cause scarring to the lungs\n and decreased lung function over time, potentially affecting other\n areas of the body, incl...