Monday, November 23, 2009

Andromedia's DiaPep227 gets delayed

This posting was based on a misunderstanding of the FDA (and EU) approval process, and therefore I have rewritten it.  The rewritten version was posted 30-Jan-2010 with the title "Andromedia's DiaPep 277 Preps for Second Phase-III Trial".  I'm very sorry for the misunderstanding.  Please read the updated version for the current research status.

Joshua Levy

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Possible Cures for Type-1 in the News (Nov)

Diamyd Finishes Enrollment of their European Phase-III Trial

Diamyd has finished enrolling patients in their 300 person, phase-III European trial. Diamyd is a vaccine like treatment designed to train the body's immune system not to attack itself and is focused on GAD65, which is the most common antibody marker carried by people with type-1 diabetes. Several human trials have already completed, and several more are in process. This trial is newly diagnosed type-1 diabetics, only.

Why is finishing enrollment important? For a couple of reasons:
  1. Once a trial is fully enrolled, everyone knows when it will end, or at least when they will finish gathering the required data. So in a very real sense, we can see the end of the tunnel now. This trial lasts 15 months, so the last person who enrolls in Nov-2009 will finish with the protocol in Feb-2011.
  2. Phase-III is the last phase before marketing approval of a new drug, so these guys are now the treatment second closest to general availability. (DiaPep227 Phase-III fully enrolled a few months ago.)
These guys also have a similar, large phase-III trial going on in the US, and they are still recruiting for that one. Plus, there are other clinical trials by different people using the same drug.

More info:
http://www.pipelinereview.com/index.php/2009111230708/Vaccines/Diamyds-European-Phase-III-Study-Fully-Recruited.html

Exsulin Update: Vague Results and Another Phase-II Trial Starting

This news is actually from the Summer, but I haven't blogged about it before, so here it is:
Here is the highlight of the results from their last batch of clinical trials:
In the T1DM study (SPIRIT 1), Arginine-stimulated C-peptide (AUC0-30) significantly increased from baseline in the 600 mg group (p = 0.0058 versus placebo)
My translation: the treatment caused people to generate more of their own insulin in response to a meal, when given 600mg. There was a second group that got 300mg, but they did not see any benefit. The full paper includes more detail one what was seen, but it looked pretty small to me.

Of course, the good news, is that this clinical trial only took them a few months to run, so they could easily make improvements to their process, and try it again. And that is what they are going to do:

The new phase-II trial is already recruiting it's 30 participants and they are hoping to have results by Q2 2010. Because INGAP does not stay in a person's system for very long, in this trial they will give smaller doses three times a day (rather than larger doses once a day), and therefore hope to have better effects and fewer side effects. They have also changed the formulation to have less irritation at the injection site. In their previous study, 25% of the people who got the higher dose, dropped out of the trial because of "adverse effects" (often this irritation), so that is a problem they want to address.

Abstract of research of completed phase-II trail:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122518238/abstract

Press release:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161069.php

Clinical Trial record for new phase-II trial:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00995540

I want to particularly thank fellow BraveBuddy Ricardo Dolmetsch for providing a lot of of the information that I used to report results from the previous trial and for providing some useful insight. Also thanks to ChildrenWithDiabetes member Ellen for pointing out the second phase-II study.

Phase-II Results from DiaPep227

DiaPep227 entered phase-III trials before I started to track clinical trials, so I've never blogged about their Phase-II results. However, since they're phase-III was the first to be fully enrolled, I thought it might be interesting to look at their previous results. Here is the quote from their abstract:
At 18 months, stimulated C-peptide concentrations had fallen in the placebo group (p = 0.0005) but were maintained in the DiaPep277 group. The need for exogenous insulin was higher in the placebo group than in the DiaPep277 group. Mean HbA1c concentrations were similar in both groups. After extension of the study, patients continuing treatment with DiaPep277 and those switched from placebo to DiaPep277 manifested a trend towards a greater preservation of beta-cell function compared to patients maintained on or switched to placebo. The safety profile of DiaPep277 was similar between the treatment and placebo groups, and no drug-related adverse events occurred.
When I look at that summary, the first thing that I notice is that there are no numbers in the results (except a p value, which isn't a result, its a measurement of a result). It talks about C-peptide and A1C numbers, but does not give them. For me that is a big red flag. Vague qualitative statements ("need for exogenous insulin was higher") don't give me confidence. I want to know how much more insulin? And I don't see that data here. Exsulin's abstract in the news item above had the same problem, and reading the whole paper just reinforced by belief that no numbers in the abstract does not bode well for the strength of the results.

The complete paper is pay-per-view, so I'm just working off the abstract.

Abstract of research:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/113488533/abstract

All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF news, views, policies or opinions.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Xoma Starts a Phase-II Human Trial

My local JDRF chapter is setting up a "Research Information Committee" to help spread the word about type-1 diabetes research, and I was asked to be a member. We had our first meeting a few days ago, and one of the other members mentioned the following human trial was just getting started:

Xoma Starts a Phase-II Human Trial

Xoma is starting a phase-II clinical trial of their "Xoma 052" drug.

The study is placebo controlled and double blind, and the primary end-point is C-peptide levels (so good design). It is being done in Zurich and I'm not sure how many people will be enrolled. Only people who have had type-1 diabetes for 2 years or longer will be enrolled. So this is not a honeymoon study: quite the opposite; honeymoon diabetics are excluded.

There are already two separate phase-I clinical trials underway to see if Xoma 052 improves type-2 diabetes. (I assume that is why they could go directly to phase-II trials in type-1 diabetes: the basic safety was already established.) Xoma inc. is also doing animal research to see if this drug can be used for many other inflammation related diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and gout.

This clinical trial is being funded by JDRF.

Xoma 052 is a monoclonal antibody which is a broad anti-inflammatory, and works by blocking the IL-1 inflammation pathway. Xoma is in the business of developing monoclonal antibodies which are then marketed by much larger companies. They already have a couple of drugs on the market.

Discussion

Earlier this year (and in 2008) there was some excitement about inflammation based treatments as cures for type-1 diabetes. The idea as that the body's autoimmune response triggered inflammation and it was the inflammation which actually killed the beta cells. So lowering inflammation could cure or prevent type-1 diabetes. This is a minority opinion, to be sure. Most researchers believe that inflammation is a side effect of the beta cells being destroyed, not a cause of their destruction. This trial is the third one, that I know of, based on the idea that anti-inflammatories can cure type-1 diabetes.

One of the best things about this research, is that they expect results next year, and as a phase-II trial, it should be big enough, so that the results should be pretty clear as to the basic success of the drug. We should have a basic "thumbs up / thumbs down" result by the end of 2010. Another good thing, from my point of view, is that this is not a honeymoon only treatment or trial.

Personally, I'm a little dubious about the whole "anti-inflammation as a cure" path. But I'm also very data-driven, and we now have 3 different studies going on to try to cure type-1 using this path. If any one of those studies gives successful results, then all my doubts will be erased. :-)


Xoma's press release:
http://www.xoma.com/company/news-events/press-releases/index.cfm?releaseID=421746
Clinical trials record for this research:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00998699
Clinical trials records for Xoma's other diabetes research:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=xoma+diabetes
Previous blog entry on inflammation (including some general discussion):
http://cureresearch4type1diabetes.blogspot.com/2009/04/two-new-trials-to-test-kineret-anakinra.html

All the views expressed here are those of Joshua Levy, and nothing here is official JDRF news, views, policies or opinions.