Hepion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:HEPA) reported positive findings from a translational research study assessing the effects of CRV431 on lung tissue obtained from a patient with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
In the study, CRV431 was administered to lung tissue samples from an IPF patient at concentrations of one or five micromoles. Additional lung samples were treated with 2.5 millimoles of either pirfenidone or nintedanib, two approved standard-of-care drugs for IPF that slow disease progression.
The results demonstrated that CRV431 exerted similar or greater effects than pirfenidone and nintedanib across many disease markers. CRV431 at five micromoles decreased gene expression by an average of 45%, similar to the effects observed with pirfenidone dosed at concentrations 500-times greater than CRV431.
The most potent secretion effect of five micromoles of CRV431 was a 61% reduction in the daily average production of the IPF biomarker, MMP7, similar to the reduction seen with pirfenidone and about twice the magnitude of reduction seen with nintedanib.
“Several previous studies in animal models and human liver tissues demonstrated therapeutic effects of CRV431 in the liver, but this is the first study to show that CRV431 can attenuate disease markers in tissue from another organ,” Dr. Daren Ure, Hepion’s CSO, said in a statement.
“The results reinforce that CRV431 has direct acting anti-fibrotic activity that may be applicable to a range of fibrotic diseases and disorders, potentially even certain cancers. Having previously observed anti-fibrotic activities of CRV431 in isolated cells from an IPF lung, the current study extends those observations to intact, IPF tissue, which is significantly more relevant,” he added.
