Monday November 27, 9:00 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Alteon Inc.
Phase IIa Trial of Alteon's ALT-711
Concluding on Schedule - Data Evaluation of Cardiovascular Drug to
Begin -
RAMSEY, N.J., Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Alteon Inc. (Amex: ALT - news) announced today that it has completed
the on-drug segment of a Phase IIa clinical trial of ALT-711, an A.G.E. crosslink breaker compound being
evaluated for its effects on cardiovascular function. Detailed analyses of the study data will now be undertaken.
Alteon will report results from the trial once the full data analyses have been completed.
ALT-711 is the first compound to enter clinical development that has demonstrated the potential to reverse
age-related cardiovascular disease and restore function to the cardiovascular system. The activity of the
compound is based on its ability to cleave pathological structures called Advanced Glycosylation End-product
(A.G.E.) crosslinks, which form when glucose in the body interacts with proteins.
The Phase IIa human clinical trial of ALT-711 was a double-blind, placebo- controlled study which commenced in
April 2000 at nine U.S. clinical sites: Johns Hopkins University Medical Center; The Gerontology Research Center
at the National Institute on Aging; Rush Hypertension Center at Rush Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center;
Orange County Research Center; St. Paul Heart Clinic; VA Medical Center, Minneapolis; University of Maryland
at Baltimore; University of Minnesota; and Memorial Research Medical Clinic, Long Beach, California.
The study enrolled 93 men and women over age 50 whose cardiovascular systems showed measurable stiffening
due to aging and/or diabetes, exceeding the minimum number of 72 patients designated in the clinical protocol.
Patients received doses of ALT-711 or placebo in tablet form once a day over an 8-week period. The patients
were monitored for improved cardiovascular compliance, including pulse pressure, pulse wave velocity, cardiac
output and radial tonometry. In addition, researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute on
Aging conducted a sub-study of 26 patients designed to detect the direct effects of ALT-711 on ventricular
function. |
