City of Industry, CA, Feb. 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marina Biotech, Inc. (OTCQB: MRNA), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics for hypertension, arthritis, pain and oncology, announced today further progress with its FDA-Approved Prestalia® hypertension drug, with the issuance of a new and independent publication on Prestalia®: Elliott WJ and Bistrika EA (2018) Perindopril arginine and amlodipine besylate for hypertension: a safety evaluation. Expert Opin Drug Saf. 17:207-216.
“Substantial clinical trial experience with amlodipine or perindopril suggests that these two agents effectively lower blood pressure, and can reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, as in the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial.” The author went on to say “This new formulation of perindopril arginine protects its ethyl ester, without requiring physical separation from amlodipine in a single tablet, and is less hygroscopic than perindopril erbumine. These and other attributes may make this combination an attractive addition to the antihypertensive armamentarium”
“The Elliot and Bistrika publication highlights the impressive safety and efficacy profile of Prestalia, a profile which includes a reduction in cardiovascular events. It is data and analysis like this, along with the continued progress of the team at Marina that make me confident that Prestalia is well positioned for a successful launch,” said Dr. Vuong Trieu, Executive Chairman of Marina Biotech. “Additionally, new guidelines enacted by the American College of Cardiology (ACA) and the American Heart Association (AHA) that recommend that blood pressure should be treated earlier, has the potential to improve hypertension awareness and improve outcomes through lifestyle changes and treatment with drugs like Prestalia.”
About Prestalia®
Prestalia® contains perindopril arginine, an ACE inhibitor, and amlodipine, a dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker, and is indicated for the treatment of hypertension to lower blood pressure. Prestalia® may be used in patients whose blood pressure is not adequately controlled on monotherapy. Prestalia® may be used as initial therapy in patients likely to need multiple drugs to achieve blood pressure goals. Lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events, primarily strokes and myocardial infarctions. These benefits have been seen in controlled trials of antihypertensive drugs from a wide variety of pharmacologic classes, including amlodipine and the ACE inhibitor class to which perindopril principally belongs.
FDA approval of Prestalia® was based on data from the 837-patient Phase III PATH trial (Perindopril Amlodipine for the Treatment of Hypertension). The study demonstrated that the fixed-dose combination of perindopril arginine with amlodipine besylate in a single pill was significantly better than either compound alone in reducing both sitting diastolic and sitting systolic blood pressure after six weeks of treatment. It also suggested that the combination may provide a better benefit/risk ratio than either treatment alone.
About Marina Biotech
Our mission is to provide effective and patient centric treatment for hypertension, including resistant hypertension, by creating a platform for the effective treatment of hypertension as well as for the distribution of fixed dose combination hypertensive drugs such as Prestalia and other drugs in our pipeline. The Company’s commercial product Prestalia is approved by US FDA for the treatment of hypertension and is being commercialized through the DyrctAxess platform. The Company is also developing and commercializing late stage, non-addictive pain therapeutics. The Company’s ‘next-generation of celecoxib,’ including IT-102 and IT-103, are designed to control the dangerous side-effect of edema that prohibits the celecoxib from being prescribed at higher doses. The Company further believes that the current opioid addiction epidemic in the U.S. has been driven in part by the withdrawal from the market of certain COX-2 inhibitors due to their associated risk of cardiovascular-related adverse events, and the Company hopes to be a mitigant to that epidemic. Additional information about Marina Biotech is available at http://www.marinabio.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in this news release may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Federal Securities laws that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (i) the ability of Marina Biotech to successfully integrate its business operations with those of IthenaPharma; (ii) the ability of Marina Biotech to obtain funding to support its clinical development; (iii) the ability of Marina Biotech to attract and/or maintain manufacturing, research, development and commercialization partners; (iv) the ability of Marina Biotech and/or a partner to successfully complete product research and development, including preclinical and clinical studies and commercialization; (v) the ability of Marina Biotech and/or a partner to obtain required governmental approvals; and (vi) the ability of Marina Biotech and/or a partner to develop and commercialize products prior to, and that can compete favorably with those of, competitors. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in Marina Biotech's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Marina Biotech assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements because of subsequent events.