The first patient has been enrolled in a phase 2 clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of RLS-0071, a potential new COPD treatment based on the novel EPICC peptide platform from ReAlta Life Sciences.
ReAlta Chief Medical Officer Kenji Cunnion, MD, MPH, said RLS-0071 is the company’s lead dual-targeting peptide that uniquely inhibits both complement and neutrophil-associated inflammation and is currently in development for the treatment of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, acute graft-versus-host disease and other rare and acute inflammatory diseases.
“The novel, dual mechanism-of-action of RLS-0071 that enables the rapid inhibition of both complement activation and neutrophil effectors (including myeloperoxidase, neutrophil elastase and NETosis) holds great promise to address the fundamental drivers of the acute exacerbations that are a pervasive threat to COPD patients,” Dr. Cunnion said.
The phase 2 clinical trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships of RLS-0071 in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD. Approximately 24 hospitalized patients will receive doses of either RLS-0071 or placebo in addition to standard of care treatment for up to five days.
The primary endpoint of the study is safety. Key secondary endpoints include biomarkers of inflammation, physiological response to RLS-0071 compared to placebo, clinical progression and resolution.
