Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Announces First Patients Enrolled in Phase 2 Clinical Study Evaluating ELX-02 for the Treatment of Alport Syndrome
Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in ribosomal RNA-targeted genetic therapies for rare diseases, today announced that the first patients have now been enrolled in its Phase 2 study of ELX-02 for the treatment of Alport syndrome in patients with nonsense mutations.
“With enrollment of the first patients in our Phase 2 study of ELX-02 for the treatment of Alport syndrome in patients with nonsense mutations, we remain on track to deliver topline clinical results from this trial in the first half of 2023,” said Sumit Aggarwal, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eloxx. “ELX-02 treatment has demonstrated restoration of full-length protein in multiple preclinical models, including collagen IV and collagen VII in cells, and also clinical activity in our Phase 2 cystic fibrosis trial. We believe our results, previously conducted in vivo studies showing improvement of kidney function with collagen IV restoration and the ability to achieve high kidney drug levels at tolerable doses support the clinical development of ELX-02 in Alport syndrome.”
This Phase 2 trial is targeting dosing of up to eight Alport syndrome patients with nonsense mutations in the COL4 gene. Patients will be dosed for two months with a three month follow-up. In addition to the primary endpoint of safety, the key secondary efficacy endpoint of proteinuria will be measured every two weeks. For eligible patients, induction of COL IV will also be measured at the end of two months. Topline results are expected in the first half of 2023.
About Alport syndrome
Alport syndrome is a genetic disorder characterized by kidney disease with high levels of proteinuria, hearing loss and eye abnormalities caused by mutations in the genes (COL4A3, COL4A4, and COL4A5) needed for production of type 4 collagen. Approximately 6% to 7% of Alport syndrome patients, or approximately 9,400 to 12,750 individuals, are estimated to have nonsense mutations. These patients have significantly worse clinical outcomes than other Alport patients and have no disease modifying treatment options.
About Nonsense Mutations
Nonsense mutations cause a premature stop codon in the mRNA resulting in less than full length or loss of function proteins. These remain highly underserved with no approved disease modifying therapies. An estimated 10-12% patients across over 8,000 inherited genetic rare diseases harbor nonsense mutations in one or both alleles harboring nonsense mutations.
About Eloxx Pharmaceuticals
Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is engaged in the science of ribosome modulation, leveraging its innovative TURBO-ZM™ chemistry technology platform in an effort to develop novel Ribosome Modulating Agents (RMAs) and its library of Eukaryotic Ribosome Selective Glycosides (ERSGs). Eloxx’s lead investigational product candidate, ELX-02, is a small molecule drug candidate designed to restore production of full-length functional proteins. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation for ELX-02 for the treatment of CF patients with nonsense mutations. In addition, ELX-02 has also been granted Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of CF patients with nonsense mutations by the FDA and orphan medicinal product designation by the European Commission. ELX-02 is in clinical development, focusing on cystic fibrosis (US Trial NCT04135495, EU/IL Trial NCT04126473). Eloxx also has preclinical programs focused on select rare diseases, including inherited diseases, cancer caused by nonsense mutations, kidney diseases, including autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, as well as rare ocular genetic disorders.
SOURCE: Eloxx Pharmaceuticals
27 January 2023
