Beyond Biotech Podcast 55: Inflammation
This week, we talk about inflammation blockers with Alan Watt, CEO of NodThera.
The company recently announced that it is the first to demonstrate reducing neuroinflammation with an inflammation inhibitor.
NodThera announced positive preliminary data from four subjects in the elderly volunteer stage of a phase Ib/IIa study evaluating the effect of its lead candidate NT-0796 on inflammatory and disease-specific biomarkers in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
NodThera is a clinical stage biotech developing brain penetrant NLRP3 inflammatory inhibitor to treat chronic inflammatory diseases.
Preliminary data from ongoing studies confirm previous findings from the first completed preclinical and human studies with NT-0796 showing excellent pharmacokinetics with the new capsule formulation.
Subjects in this study were cannulated and CSF samples were taken on the first day (pre-dose) and the seventh day after daily doses of NT-0796. Confirmed CSF drug levels were consistent with previous observations and various biomarkers of CSF inflammation showed a marked reduction.
Neurofilament light chain (NfL), synthesized exclusively in the central nervous system (CNS), decreased by approximately 25% over seven days in the most inflamed subjects and by an average of 13%. NfL is now recognized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a major biomarker of neuroaxonal damage and neurodegeneration.
