LONDON, Nov. 18, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Trigen Ltd today announced that it has successfully identified two novel, competitive clinical candidates from its Direct Thrombin Inhibitor (DTI) programme, which have been codenamed TGN 167 (oral) and TGN 255 (intravenous). Both products offer new approaches for the prevention and treatment of thrombosis. Trigen has initiated a series of additional clinical studies to progress these candidates.
"From a strong technology base, our team has thoroughly investigated the market opportunity and generated a series of competitive candidates that are progressing well in the clinic," said Dr. Sanjay Kakkar, Trigen's Chief Executive Officer.
Trigen's pilot DTI, TRI 50b, was previously tested in both intravenous and oral forms in early clinical studies. "TRI 50b enabled Trigen to demonstrate an excellent pharmacodynamic profile for its highly selective DTI," said Dr Tony Kennedy, Trigen's Vice President of Development "but over the course of the last year we identified a great opportunity to develop distinct oral and intravenous products from our DTI portfolio, each with significant competitive advantages. Both TGN 167 and TGN 255 are now in active Phase I clinical studies."
Trigen is developing TGN 255 for specific in-hospital and acute indications where there is a clear need for safer and more convenient anti-coagulants. TGN 167 is potentially a safe, effective and predictable anti-coagulant for chronic out-patient use. Furthermore, TGN 167 has intrinsic oral bioavailability and does not rely upon liver mediated prodrug metabolism, enabling it to become potentially "best-in-class."
A limited amount of preclinical data relating to these next generation direct thrombin inhibitors will be presented by Trigen at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) on 8 December 2003. It is also anticipated that further announcements concerning the progress of these products will be made in the coming months.
Trigen is a private UK biotechnology company, based in London, that is discovering and developing novel drugs for the management of occlusive and inflammatory cardiovascular diseases. Trigen's lead programme, comprising a series of anti-coagulant direct thrombin inhibitors (DTIs) for the prevention and treatment of thrombosis, is in clinical development in both intravenous and oral formulations. In addition Trigen has other programmes, focused on thrombosis and ischaemia-related diseases, in preclinical development.
Note to Editors:
Thrombosis, or the formation of a pathological blood clot, is the single largest cause of death and disability in the western hemisphere and is implicated in a wide range of medical conditions, including acute coronary syndromes (heart attack), stroke, deep vein thrombosis and peripheral arterial disease. In the USA, there are approximately 8.5 million acute events each year and an estimated chronic market population of 33 million. The anti-thrombotic market is large and growing; according to market research, anti-thrombotics generated sales of $8.9 billion in 2002 and sales are forecast to grow to over $17 billion by 2007.
The market can be broadly divided into three major classes: thrombolytics, anti-platelet agents and anti-coagulants. Trigen is currently focused on developing anti-coagulants, the class with the widest variety of applications in venous and arterial occlusions (blockages), both acute and chronic.
Thrombin: an enzyme that causes blood to clot by catalysing the conversion of the soluble protein fibrinogen to the insoluble fibrin
Pharmacodynamic: the study of drug action on living organisms
Highly selective: high ratio of selectivity for the target as compared to related enzymes
Prodrug: an inactive form of a drug that becomes active after metabolic activation within the body which converts it to a usable or active form
Intrinsic oral bioavailability: a drug which is biologically active by the oral route
For further information about Trigen please visit www.trigen.co.uk