tiakis (formerly Proteo Biotech AG) Elafin Enters the Clinic For Subcutaneous Use In Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

tiakis BIOTECH AG today announced the start of the clinical development for the subcutaneous use of tiakis lead investigational drug candidate Elafin (INN: Tiprelestat). The Duke University Early Phase Research Unit initiated the recruitment of healthy individuals for the Phase I clinical trial in the U.S. to assess the safety and tolerability of repeated single doses of Elafin. tiakis research partners and investigators at Stanford University School of Medicine, Dr. Marlene Rabinovitch and Dr. Roham Zamanian, are responsible for the conduct of the investigator-initiated trial. The trial with the title “Safety and Tolerability of Escalating Doses of Subcutaneous Elafin (Tiprelestat) Injection in Healthy Normal Subjects” marks the beginning of the clinical development program of Elafin for chronic use initially focusing on the treatment of patients suffering from the still fatal disease pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Elafin has received orphan drug designations in the USA and the EU for the treatment of PAH. 

About tiakis Elafin clinical development program

tiakis biopharmaceutical drug candidate Elafin promises an excellent therapeutic benefit risk profile for the use as an anti-inflammatory and tissue protective drug. Elafin is identical to the human protein elafin with high specificity for tissue destroying and inflammation promoting proteases. The development program of Elafin is focused on the late stage development of Elafin in major surgery and early stage development in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Elafin has received orphan drug designations in the USA and the EU for esophageal cancer surgery (ECS) and PAH. So far, there were no safety concerns after the treatment of 75 patients in three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. Postoperative complications in major surgery are the most significant independent risk factor leading to high morbidity and hospital readmissions. Following the completion of two Phase II surgery trials in ECS and coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and a final European Medicines Agency advice letter, a European pivotal trial with Elafin in ECS is in preparation. Treatment of patients undergoing ECS resulted in a significantly shorter intensive care unit stay and a positive postoperative effect on liver and kidney markers. Treatment of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery resulted in a postoperative reduction of the heart damage marker troponin I. In models of PAH it was shown that Elafin reverses obliterative changes in arteries of lung explants from PAH patients and that treatment with Elafin leads to the regression of pulmonary vascular lesions in rats. PAH is still a fatal disease with high medical need for therapies that stop disease progression.