Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) has announced that it will be presenting a late-breaking abstract summarizing ACH-4471 during the Congress of European Hematology Association. The e-poster will be based on the fact that ACH-4471, a hemoglobinuria drug, is well-tolerated at single dose levels with no serious adverse events.
The e-poster presentation will reveal interim results from the continuing phase 1 single ascending dose on healthy volunteers being led by Christian Schwabe of Auckland Clinical Studies Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand and Roderick B. Ellis-Pegler and a group of scientists from Achillion.
The study of single ascending oral doses of ACH-4471 began in February 2016, with the aim of establishing the safety and tolerance of the drug. The study also evaluated the drug’s pharmacodynamic (PD) profile and pharmacokinetic (PK) and PD/PK relationship as measured by alternative pathway activity ex vivo in hemolysis and Wieslab assays.
As described in the abstract oral dosing of ACH-4471 resulted in rapid and near complete inhabitation of complement alternative pathway activity, which was also sustained. ACH-4471 has been well tolerated at single dose levels to date with no drug-related serious adverse events.
The European Hematology Association Congress will be held on June 9-12, 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Recently, Achillion announced its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2016. The company reported a net loss of $18.1 million, which is equivalent to $0.13 per share. In the same period 2015, the company had reported a net loss of $19.3 million equal to $0.17 per share. Achillion Pharmaceuticals has cash and cash equivalent of $444 million.
Milind Deshpande, Ph.D., President, and Chief Executive Officer of Achillion noted during the announcement that during the first quarter of 2016, they continued to progress their complement pipeline and work with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Janssen as they advance their combined HCV pipeline under their global collaboration.