FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Verseon’s drug discovery program, based on an industry-leading in silico platform, progresses four programs with multiple novel compounds in anticoagulation, HAE, DME, and oncology.
Anticoagulants
Verseon has submitted the Phase I protocol for its lead precision oral anticoagulant (PROAC) candidate, VE-1902, and expects to start first-in-human trials in Q3 2018.
PROACs are potent, highly selective, reversible covalent inhibitors of thrombin. They have shown excellent efficacy and low bleeding risk in multiple preclinical studies but do not disrupt platelet function. Therefore, they may be the first oral anticoagulants suitable for long-term anticoagulant-antiplatelet combination therapy. Such treatment is particularly relevant for tens-of-millions of patients worldwide with acute coronary syndrome or non-valvular atrial fibrillation comorbid with coronary artery disease.
Verseon’s second PROAC candidate will enter the clinic in 2019.
Diabetic Macular Edema (DME)
Verseon also detailed progress with its oral plasma kallikrein inhibitors for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). These small-molecule drug candidates are suitable for oral dosing and could replace or complement the current standard DME treatment, which is recurrent eye injections. An oral treatment would also be suitable for ongoing preventative treatment.
The company expects to nominate the first candidate for development in Q4 2018.
Hereditary Angioedema (HAE)
Verseon is also developing a number of oral plasma kallikrein inhibitors for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE), a rare and sometimes life-threatening genetic disease characterized by recurring episodes of swelling. Recent research has shown that plasma kallikrein is an important target central to the HAE pathway.
Further development is planned to optimize the pharmacokinetic profiles of these candidates and to test for in vivo efficacy.
Solid Tumors
Verseon is developing a class of next-generation chemotherapy agents for the treatment of multidrug resistant cancers. These small-molecule tubulin inhibitors have shown nanomolar in vitro potency against a range of cancer cell lines. Further preclinical testing showed that the tubulin inhibitors are only weakly affected by common modes of drug resistance.
About Verseon
Verseon Corporation (www.verseon.com, AIM: VSN) is a technology-based pharmaceutical company that pairs a proprietary, computational drug discovery platform with a comprehensive in-house chemistry and biology workflow to develop novel therapeutics that are unlikely to be found using conventional methods.
-Ends-
