Closely-held Aurora Bio will present data on its synthetic peptide radiotracer, AUR01, at the upcoming American Society for Hematology (ASH) annual meeting.
AUR01 is a synthetic pan-amyloid reactive peptide being developed to detect amyloid burden in systemic amyloid diseases. There are some 30 types of amyloidosis, a disease characterized by the deposition of protein fibrils in vital organs and tissues.
Aurora will present data from a PET-imaging study of AUR01 in patients with different types of amyloidosis. In light chain amyloidosis patients, AUR01 was retained in the heart, kidneys, liver, spleen, pancreas, bone marrow, lung, and adrenal glands. Kidney, spleen and liver uptake was observed in 60%, 40%, and 20% of these patients, respectively. In addition, AUR01 was retained in the heart of 80% of light chain amyloidosis patients and 100% of transthyretin amyloidosis patients.
“The unmet need for early and accurate diagnosis for systemic amyloidosis is significant as many patients are getting diagnosed too late to obtain optimal benefit from treatment,” CEO Spencer Guthrie said in a statement.
“We believe this compound has the potential to change the way systemic amyloidosis is diagnosed and monitored and holds great potential to provide for efficient drug development for new targeted therapeutics,” he added.
