Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AKBA) has announced that the first patient has been dosed in its Phase 2 clinical trial of praliciguat, an oral once-daily soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator being evaluated for the treatment of a biopsy-confirmed rare kidney disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS).
The company plans to assess praliciguat’s use in other rare podocytopathies in the future.
In a statement, Dr. Steven K. Burke, CMO of Akebia, commented, “We are pleased by the timely initiation of this important Phase 2 clinical trial of praliciguat and have successfully dosed the first patient following the defined screening process. FSGS is a rare kidney disease that affects approximately 40,000 patients in the U.S, and there are no approved treatments. Praliciguat is a promising therapeutic candidate with no significant safety issues observed in Phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers and Phase 2 studies in heart failure and diabetic kidney disease. Praliciguat is a key component of our recently announced mid-stage rare kidney disease pipeline.”
