Concert Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNCE) initiated a multiple ascending dose (MAD) study to evaluate its adjunctive schizophrenia therapeutic candidate, CTP-692, in healthy volunteers.
CTP-692 is a deuterium-modified analog of endogenous D-serine. D-serine is an important synaptic co-agonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, whose hypofunction is believed to be an underlying mechanism in schizophrenia.
“We are pleased with CTP-692’s pharmacokinetic and safety profile to date and believe that it has the potential to offer a safe and effective agent to enhance NMDA function, providing a new approach to treating symptoms of schizophrenia,” Roger Tung, Concert’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
Concert’s CTP-692 Phase 1 program aims to assess the drug’s safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics. Concert has completed the first two studies in this program, a crossover comparison of CTP-692 versus D-serine, and a single ascending (SAD) dose study. This MAD study is the final study in the program.
Concert expects topline data from both the SAD and MAD studies in the second quarter of 2019.
