Axys Scraps Study on Asthma Treatment

Axys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. recently announced that the company is discontinuing clinical studies of the dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulation of one of its drug candidates, APC-366, for the treatment of asthma. Phase I results have demonstrated that, at certain dosing levels, some study participants given the DPI formulation of APC-366 exhibited signs of bronchospasm as compared to the DPI vehicle (placebo) alone. Axys and its partner, Bayer AG, are continuing preclinical development of a different tryptase inhibitor compound for use as an oral treatment for asthma. Axys is also developing APC-2059, a tryptase inhibitor for the treatment of psoriasis and acute inflammatory bowel disease.

Axys had previously established proof of principle for tryptase as a target in inflammation with two Phase IIa trials of a nebulized version of APC-366, which demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in late airway response in asthmatics.

Axys Pharmaceuticals is a leader in the integration of life science technologies with a focus on transforming gene discoveries into drugs.