Positive clinical data on the novel non-opioid VR1 antagonist ACD440 presented at IASP pain conference

Positive clinical data on the novel non-opioid VR1 antagonist ACD440 presented at IASP pain conference

AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ) (FN STO: ALZCUR), a pharmaceutical company that develops a broad portfolio of drug candidates for diseases affecting the central nervous system, with projects in both Alzheimer’s disease and pain, today announced that the company’s presentation and poster on its lead candidate non-opioid drug ACD440 for neuropathic pain, which was presented at the IASP 2021 World Congress on Pain June 9-11 and 16-18 are now available in full on the company’s website.

The poster presentation, given by Matthias Rother, Medical Program Director at AlzeCure, presents the results and conclusions from the Phase Ib clinical study with the TRPV1 antagonist ACD440, which AlzeCure announced positive clinical data from on April 19, 2021. Conclusions show that no topical (erythema, desquamation, pruritus) or systemic adverse events were reported in the study and that ACD440 appears to be safe to be used on normal skin, inflamed skin, and skin with a compromised barrier function. Pharmacodynamic data showed the ACD440 gel had a highly significant analgesic effect both on laser evoked pain and mechanical sensitivity. This effect was seen in all three skin conditions indicating the potential use of the product in multiple skin types.
 
“The results and conclusion presented in the poster presentation are very encouraging and strengthen our belief in the drug candidate as well as the pain platform as a whole. We are now planning for the next step, taking ACD440 into Phase II studies in peripheral neuropathic pain,” said Märta Segerdahl, CMO of AlzeCure Pharma AB.
 
“These results are very interesting and promising. I am very much supporting a clinical trial in neuropathic pain patients,” said Dr. Ralf Baron, Professor in Neurology, at the University of Kiel.
 
“The market for neuropathic pain reached over 10 BUSD in 2020, but still the majority of patients do not receive adequate relief with existing treatment. This shows the high unmet medical need and the huge potential for our project. ACD440 could become a first-in-class drug and meet a substantial demand,” said Martin Jönsson, CEO of AlzeCure Pharma AB.
 
The authors for the late-breaking abstract, titled ACD440 – A potent TRPV1 Antagonist for the topical Treatment of Pain include Dr. Märta Segerdahl, project leader and CMO at AlzeCure, Dr. Klaus Schaffler, who conducted the Proof-of-Mechanism study of ACD440, Dr. Johan Sandin, CSO at AlzeCure, and Matthias Rother, Medical Program Director at AlzeCure.
 
The poster and recorded presentation are available on AlzeCure’s website: https://www.alzecurepharma.se/en/presentations-and-interviews/

For more information, please contact

Martin Jönsson, CEO
Tel: +46 707 86 94 43
martin.jonsson@alzecurepharma.com

About AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ)

About Neuropathic pain
Neuropathic pain affects approximately 7–8 percent of the total adult population. Some patients, with indications such as diabetes and HIV, are affected to a greater extent, where approximately 25 and 35 percent respectively of the patients experience neuropathic pain.
 
Peripheral neuropathic pain is the result of various types of damage to the nerve fibers, such as toxic, traumatic or nerve compression injuries as well as metabolic and infectious diseases. Common symptoms are painful tingling that can be described as “pins and needles”, or choking or burning pain, as well as the feeling of getting an electric shock. Patients may also experience allodynia (pain caused by a stimulus that usually does not cause pain) or hyperalgesia (increased pain from a stimulus that normally provokes pain).
 
The market for neuropathic pain is characterized by a major medical need in all indications and in all major markets, where only about 30 percent of patients respond to existing treatment.
 
The patient population will grow, among other things, due to an aging population, the increased number of long-term cancer survivors and growing prevalence of type-2 diabetes.
 
The global market for neuropathic pain was valued at $10.8 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to around $25 billion by 2027.
 
 
About AlzeCure Pharma AB (publ)
AlzeCure® is a Swedish pharmaceutical company that develops new innovative drug therapies for the treatment of severe diseases and conditions that affect the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer’s disease and pain – indications for which currently available treatment is extremely limited. The company is listed on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market and is developing several parallel drug candidates based on three research platforms: NeuroRestore®, Alzstatin® and Painless.

NeuroRestore consists of two symptomatic drug candidates where the unique mechanism of action allows multiple indications, including Alzheimer’s disease, as well as cognitive disorders associated with traumatic brain injury, sleep apnea and Parkinson’s disease. The Alzstatin platform focuses on developing disease-modifying and preventive drug candidates for early treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and comprises two candidates. Painless is the company’s research platform in the field of pain and contains two projects: ACD440, which is a drug candidate in the clinical development phase for the treatment of neuropathic pain, and TrkA-NAM, which targets severe pain in conditions such as osteoarthritis. AlzeCure® aims to pursue its own projects through preclinical research and development to early clinical phase, and is continually working on business development to find suitable outlicensing solutions with other pharmaceutical companies.

FNCA Sweden AB, +46(0)8 528 00 399 info@fnca.se, is the company’s Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit www.alzecurepharma.se.