New preclinical data further support the application of NM002 as novel anti-inflammatory-antimicrobial intervention in community acquired pneumonia and also data demonstrate the in vitro safety profile, fungal cell specificity and potential of NP339 in respiratory fungal disease will be presented by the NovaBiotics team at the 32nd European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ECCMID) in Lisbon, April 23-26th.
Aberdeen, April 21st, 2022. NovaBiotics Ltd, a privately held clinical stage company developing novel immune based therapies for life-threatening and life-limiting-diseases, today announces four data presentations at ECCMID 2022.
Two presentations on the Company’s lead candidate for community acquired pneumonia (CAP), NM002, will provide further insights into the mechanisms through which this phase 3 asset elicits host-directed anti-inflammatory and antiviral effects (Poster L0476, April 25th, 2022) via the glycine decarboxylase pathway; targeting interferon response elements and interleukin-6 and protecting airway epithelial cells against coronaviruses (including COVID-19) and influenza. Poster presentation L0185 (April 24th, 2022) will provide data demonstrating that NM002 potentiates the effects of standard of care antibiotics against drug-resistant bacteria associated with pneumonia and increases survival in in vivo models of bacterial infection and protects airway epithelial cells in response to bacterial challenge. These presentations further support the application of NM002 in a range of inflammatory-infectious respiratory disease including CAP. The first CAP patients have now been dosed with NM002 post initial enrolment in December 2021 into the phase 3 cysteamine domain of the global Randomised, Embedded, Multi-factorial, Adaptive Platform Trial for Community Acquired Pneumonia (REMAP-CAP) clinical study.
Two further presentations will focus on NovaBiotics’ NP339 candidate, a novel, broad-spectrum antifungal peptide engineered from a template of endogenous host defence peptides. NP339 is able to distinguish fungal cells from host cells, with a mechanism of action distinct from other antifungal drug classes, and therefore possesses no cytotoxic or haemolytic potential in vitro (Poster L0242 April 25th, 2022) at doses much greater than clinically effective concentrations. As a hydrophilic 2kDa peptide, NP339 appears to be ideally suited for delivery via aerosolisation directly into the airways from our studies thus far. Poster presentation L0241 (April 25th, 2022) provides data confirming NP339’s fungicidal activity against a range of moulds and yeasts associated with chronic and acute respiratory fungal disease, its antibiofilm activity even against drug-resistant strains and its activity against Aspergillus fumigatus when applied in nebulised form in in vivo models of respiratory fungal infection.
ECCMID is the world’s premier Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases event and brings together experts from many fields to present their latest findings, guidelines and experiences to an audience of over 14,000 colleagues.
Deborah O’Neil, PhD, OBE, FRSE, Chief Executive Officer of NovaBiotics, commented: “We are delighted to share new key preclinical data which we believe further supports the application of NM002 in CAP and potentially other diseases in which a dual approach targeting not only the causative pathogen but also the inflammatory consequences of infection may have the potential for better patient outcomes. The cysteamine domain of the REMAP CAP trial in which NM002 is being trialled is underway and we look forward to data readouts and this study providing the means to launch NM002 as a high-value therapy in the UK and then globally thereafter as soon as possible”.
She then adds: “The landscape for antifungal development is challenging and consequently bleak despite the desperate need for safe and effective new therapies. An increase in incidence of chronic respiratory fungal disease in patients who already have complex health issues compounds this and adds to the urgency to develop new classes of therapy such as NovaBiotics NP339 for respiratory fungal disease as well as invasive fungal infection.”
“ECCMID 2022 provides a prestigious and well-attended global platform for NovaBiotics to present this important preclinical data on two of its assets which target significantly unmet diseases.”
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