LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNCE) today announced its next product candidate, CTP-543, for the treatment of alopecia areata. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease characterized by patchy or widespread hair loss, for which there is significant unmet medical need and currently no FDA-approved treatment. CTP-543 is a deuterium-modified analog of ruxolitinib, which selectively inhibits Janus kinases 1 and 2, known as JAK1 and JAK2. Ruxolitinib is commercially available under the name Jakafi® in the United States for the treatment of myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera. Concert expects to initiate Phase 1 clinical evaluation of CTP-543 in the second quarter of 2016 with efficacy studies commencing in 2017.
Ruxolitinib has been used to treat alopecia areata in academic settings, including an investigator-sponsored clinical trial, and has been shown to promote hair growth in individuals with moderate to severe disease. Preclinical studies conducted by the Company demonstrated that CTP-543 retains ruxolitinib’s selective JAK 1/2 inhibition profile and shows improved metabolic stability.
“We are very excited about the potential of CTP-543 to greatly enhance patient care for individuals with alopecia areata. CTP-543 represents an opportunity to address an important disease where new and effective treatment options are needed,” said Roger Tung, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Concert Pharmaceuticals. “Based on demonstrated clinical activity of ruxolitinib in alopecia areata, CTP-543 has the potential to become an important first-in-class oral medicine to treat a devastating condition affecting millions of people in the U.S.”
Recently, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent No. 9,249,149 that claims CTP-543 as a novel composition of matter.
“CTP-543 is a prime example of the application of our deuterium platform to create proprietary new medicines which enhance and extend the utility of known molecules into new therapeutic areas. We believe we have developed a valuable, potentially first-in-class new drug candidate for an important unmet medical need and look forward to advancing CTP-543 into clinical evaluation shortly,” said Dr. Tung.
About Alopecia Areata
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that results in partial or complete loss of hair on the scalp and body. The scalp is the most commonly affected area, but any hair-bearing site can be affected alone or together with the scalp. Onset of the disease can occur throughout life and affects both women and men. Alopecia areata can be associated with serious psychological consequences, including anxiety and depression. According to MD Anderson, nearly 2% of people in the United States, including both adults and children, suffer from alopecia areata. There are currently no drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of alopecia areata.
In 2015, the FDA selected alopecia areata as one of eight new disease areas that it will focus on under its Patient-Focused Drug Development Initiative (PFDDI) meeting during fiscal year 2016-2017. The goal of the PFDDI is to bring patient perspectives into an earlier stage of product development.
Conference Call and Webcast
The Company will host a conference call and webcast tomorrow, May 5, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. EDT to discuss first quarter financial results and the CTP-543 program. To access the conference call, please dial (855) 354-1855 (U.S. and Canada) or (484) 365-2865 (International) five minutes prior to the start time.
A live webcast may be accessed in the Investors section of the company’s website at www.concertpharma.com. Please log on to the Concert website approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled webcast to ensure adequate time for any software downloads that may be required. A replay of the webcast will be available on Concert’s website for three months.
About Concert
Concert Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on applying its DCE Platform® (deuterated chemical entity platform) to create novel small molecule drugs. This approach starts with approved drugs, advanced clinical candidates or previously studied compounds that have the potential to be improved with deuterium substitution to enhance clinical safety, tolerability and efficacy. The Company is developing a broad pipeline targeting genetic diseases, autoimmune disorders, CNS disorders and inflammatory diseases, among others. For more information, please visit www.concertpharma.com.
Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about our future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about clinical development of CTP-543 and other statements containing the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “would,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation of future clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing and future clinical trials and the results of such trials, whether preliminary results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of that trial or whether results of early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of later clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in other filings that we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements included in this press release.
Concert Pharmaceuticals Inc., the CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals Inc. logo and DCE Platform are registered trademarks of Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Jakafi is a registered trademark of Incyte Corporation
