Aridis Enrolling CF Patients to Test AR-501 in Chronic Lung Infections
Aridis Pharmaceuticals has enrolled the first healthy participant in its Phase 1/2a clinical trial to evaluate the antibacterial potential of its investigational candidate, AR-501 (gallium citrate), against chronic lung infections in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF).
The study (NCT03669614) is expected to enroll approximately 48 healthy adult volunteers and 48 adult CF patients with chronic lung infections across 15 sites in the United States.
Participants will be randomized to receive one of three doses of AR-501, or a placebo, self-administered once a week using a hand-held nebulizer.
The company expects to announce results from Phase 1 during the fourth quarter of 2019, and from Phase 2a in the fourth quarter of 2020.
“We are pleased to initiate this exciting program with the first subject enrolled,” Wolfgang Dummer, MD, PhD, chief medical officer of Aridis, said in a press release. “Through this trial, we anticipate safety, pharmacokinetic, and exploratory efficacy data that will enable us to further explore the potential of AR-501 in the treatment of life-threatening bacterial infections in cystic fibrosis patients.”
AR-501 is an inhalable formulation of gallium being developed to treat pulmonary bacterial infections. It works by starving bacteria of iron, and inhibiting their iron-dependent metabolic processes necessary for the infection to progress, a mechanism very different from that of common antibiotics.
Preclinical studies have demonstrated that AR-501 holds a broad antibacterial activity with unique benefits, compared to current standard-of-care antibiotics, working against antibiotic-resistant strains such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and B. cepacia, according to the company.
Also, data from a Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT02354859) showed that intravenous gallium is safe and can effectively improve the lung function of CF patients.
“The recent safety and efficacy demonstration of intravenous gallium from a Phase 2 clinical study in CF patients gives us optimism of the prospect inhaled delivery of gallium (AR-501), which is a more direct, local route of delivery to the site of infection in the lungs and less systemic exposure,” Dummer said.
The new Phase 1/2a trial is being conducted in collaboration with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), and is led by Noah Lechtzin, MD, director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program and associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently granted Fast Track Designation and Qualified Infectious Disease Product Designation (QIDP) to AR-501. These are expected to support and expedite the therapy’s development and regulatory review.
