Post by
24minus7 on Jun 27, 2023 3:36am
Novartis and the (still?) non-existent SGLT2 inhibitor?!
==> By Trenibrother on w:o
At the risk of one or two people not sharing my suspicion of a link between Novartis and TFC-039, I would like to share one last time my recent findings.
On 12/06/2023, it was announced that Novartis had purchased Chinook Therapeutics, acquiring two high value, late-stage assets in development for IgA nephropathy (IgAN), a rare, progressive chronic kidney disease, namely atrasentan and zigakibart.
https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-bolste...
Atrasentan could build a potential bridge to TFC-039.
"Atrasentan, an oral endothelin A receptor antagonist (ERA) currently in phase 3 development for IgAN with pivotal results expected in the fourth quarter of 2023, has shown significant reduction in proteinuria."
"Atrasentan, a selective endothelin A receptor antagonist, has been shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27207530/
Chinook Therapeutics, in turn, has licensed atrasentan "from AbbVie in 2019. AbbVie has already developed atrasentan in multiple clinical trials for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease, including more than 5,000 patients in the Phase 3 SONAR trial."
https://www.chinooktx.com/pipeline/atrasentan/
Excerpt from the SONAR study:
"...In contrast, the recently approved class of blood glucose-lowering agents - the SGLT2 inhibitors - showed a marked effect on reducing ESRD, with a reduction in combined renal outcome of about 50%, as well as a significant improvement in albuminuria..."
"...Based on this study, a new drug application was submitted to the US FDA for the treatment of CKD in T2DM ( 13 ). The magnitude of effect and its consistency across different drugs in this class increase the likelihood that SGLT2 inhibitors, along with RAS inhibitors, will become the mainstay of treatment for patients with DKD..."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6976431/ DKD = Diabetic Kidney Disease
The AFFINITY phase 2 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of atrasentan in patients with
- IgA nephropathy (IgAN) with urine protein:creatinine ratio (UPCR) of 0.5 to less than 1.0 g/g
- Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS)
Alport syndrome
- Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in addition to background treatment with a RAS inhibitor and SGLT2 inhibitor studied.
https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04573920
Iptacopan is being developed by Novartis for the treatment of IgA nephropathy and other chronic kidney diseases, among others.
So it looks like Novartis is bringing together different agents for the Iptacopan programme. However, as illustrated above, this would include an SGLT2 inhibitor.
Anyone who can now name a drug developed by Novartis itself (apart from MBL949, which is being researched for obesity) deserves the utmost respect and I will have this post deleted again.
It seems that, in addition to atrasentan and zigakibart, an SGLT2 inhibitor is needed and is likely to be acquired as part of the Iptacopan project.