Plexxikon and Phenomix to Develop Drug Candidate for Inflammation
Thursday December 9, 8:00 am ET
R & D Team Expanded as Plexxikon's Second Drug Candidate Targeted for Clinical Trials
BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2004--Plexxikon today announced that PLX647, a dual c-Kit and FMS kinase inhibitor, developed in collaboration with Phenomix Corporation, has been selected as a development candidate for the treatment of inflammation. Preclinical testing of PLX647 has demonstrated preliminary safety in addition to anti-inflammatory activity in several models of inflammation, including a collagen-induced arthritis model. The collaborators expect to begin human clinical trials in rheumatoid arthritis by the end of 2005, and will be seeking a licensing partner for this program.
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"With this novel compound for arthritis, Plexxikon has advanced a second program into development in a very short period of time -- in less than twelve months -- once again validating the power of our Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery(TM) approach," said K. Peter Hirth, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Plexxikon Inc. "We believe that by blocking two kinase targets, this drug will be more efficacious, safer, and have the potential to be used both alone and in combination with current therapies for patients with rheumatoid arthritis."
PLX647 appears promising as a novel oral drug, potentially useful in the treatment of several inflammatory diseases. Inhibition of the c-Kit and FMS pathways leads to a down-regulation of mast cell and macrophage activity, thereby mitigating the inflammatory response. In addition to rheumatoid arthritis, other potential disease targets include inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis.
The compound is the result of a research collaboration between Plexxikon and Phenomix established in November 2003, to discover and develop novel drugs targeting specific kinase pathways critical in inflammation. During the research collaboration, Plexxikon applied its proprietary Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery(TM) platform to develop and optimize small molecule inhibitors, while Phenomix conducted in vitro and in vivo pharmacology studies to provide key biological insights in the discovery process.
Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common autoimmune diseases, affecting approximately 2.1 million Americans and 6 million people worldwide. It is a chronic disease characterized by inflammation of the lining, or synovium, of the joints and causes chronic pain, loss of function, disability and destruction of articular cartilage and bone.
R & D Appointments Made as Multiple Drug Candidates Advance to Development
Plexxikon today announced that it has expanded its research and development executive team with the appointment of Keith B. Nolop, M.D., as senior vice president and chief medical officer, and the promotions of Dean R. Artis, Ph.D., to vice president of lead generation and Gideon E. Bollag, Ph.D., to vice president of discovery biology.
"With our continued success, Keith's development expertise in broad disease areas will be instrumental in Plexxikon's next phase of growth as we move multiple products into the clinic. In addition, the promotions of Rick and Gideon reflect their significant contributions to the success of our integrated discovery platform and expanding product pipeline as we now have preclinical stage products in metabolic disease, inflammation and oncology," continued Dr. Hirth. "The expertise and talent of each of these team members will strengthen Plexxikon's leadership and support the future growth and productivity of the company."
Dr. Nolop brings more than fifteen years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical clinical development experience, including the filing of multiple investigational new drug (IND) applications, three successful new drug applications (NDA), and the approval of several labeling supplements. Dr. Nolop comes to Plexxikon from CoTherix, where he was vice president of clinical research. While at CoTherix, he led the clinical development of iloprost for pulmonary hypertension, which has been accepted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for priority review and granted orphan drug status. Prior to CoTherix, he held escalating positions within Schering-Plough Corporation, where he initiated early to late stage clinical programs successfully in multiple disease indications including allergic rhinitis, asthma, COPD and hypercholesterolemia. Dr. Nolop holds an M.D. from Vanderbilt University, and is a board certified physician in internal medicine and pulmonary disease.
Dr. Artis was promoted to vice president of lead generation, responsible for informatics, chemistry and structural biology. He joined Plexxikon in April 2002 as senior director of informatics. Prior to Plexxikon, Dr. Artis held escalating positions with Genentech, most recently as senior scientist of structural chemistry, and previously was staff researcher of computer-aided drug design at Syntex. He holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yale University.
Dr. Bollag was promoted to vice president of discovery biology, responsible for screening, molecular biology, protein chemistry and in vitro pharmacology. He joined Plexxikon as senior director of drug discovery in June 2002. Prior to Plexxikon, he helped build drug discovery capabilities at Syrrx, Inc., where he was the director of cellular pharmacology. Before Syrrx, he held escalating positions at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, initially as one of the founding scientists and eventually senior director of small molecule therapeutics. While there, Dr. Bollag was involved in the Onyx collaboration with Bayer to discover BAY 43-9006, a kinase inhibitor that is currently in Phase III clinical testing in cancer patients. Dr. Bollag earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and conducted post-doctoral research at Cetus Corporation.
About Plexxikon
Plexxikon is a leader in the discovery and development of novel small molecule pharmaceuticals to treat human disease. Plexxikon's proprietary Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery(TM) platform is being applied to build therapeutic franchises in metabolic and cardiovascular disease, inflammation and oncology. This discovery process utilizes a number of technologies, including structural screening as one key component that provides a significant competitive advantage to other drug discovery approaches. To date, the company has discovered a portfolio of lead compounds in each of these franchises, ranging from lead discovery to development stage.
Currently, the company's most advanced program is a PPAR pan-agonist for the treatment of diabetes and related cardiovascular complications. Other programs include a selective PDE 4B inhibitor for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a dual kinase inhibitor for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and a b-Raf inhibitor for the treatment of cancer. Plexxikon completed an initial human study in 2004 for PLX204, its PPAR pan-agonist recently licensed as part of a broad collaboration with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Plexxikon is seeking pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for a variety of collaboration opportunities. For more information, please visit www.plexxikon.com . |
