ARCA biopharma Announces Health Canada Acceptance Of Genetic-AF Clinical Trial Application

ARCA biopharma, Inc.

, a biopharmaceutical company developing genetically targeted therapies for cardiovascular diseases, today announced that the Company's Clinical Trial Application (CTA) for the GENETIC-AF clinical trial evaluating GencaroTM as a potential treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) has been accepted by Health Canada. ARCA anticipates that clinical trial sites in Canada will be active in the fourth quarter of 2014. Dr. Michael R. Bristow, President and CEO, ARCA biopharma, Inc. (Photo: Business Wire) ARCA is evaluating Gencaro, a pharmacologically unique beta-blocker and mild vasodilator, as a potential treatment for AF in the Phase 2B/3 GENETIC-AF clinical trial, which is currently enrolling patients in the United States. ARCA has identified common genetic variations that it believes predict individual patient response to Gencaro, giving it potential to be the first genetically targeted therapy for the prevention of atrial fibrillation. Dr. Michael R. Bristow, Founder and CEO of ARCA, commented, “At ARCA, we believe a personalized medicine approach to drug development, tailoring medical treatment to the individual genetic characteristics of each patient, can enable more effective therapies, improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. If the GENETIC-AF trial successfully confirms the atrial fibrillation data analysis from a prior Phase 3 clinical trial, Gencaro has the potential to be the first genetically targeted treatment for the prevention of this important cardiovascular disorder and provide a much needed treatment option for patients in an area of high unmet medical need.” About Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Atrial fibrillation, the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, is considered an epidemic cardiovascular disease and a major public health burden. The estimated number of individuals with AF globally in 2010 was 33.5 million. According to the 2014 American Heart Association report on Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, the estimated number of individuals with AF in the U.S. in 2010 ranged from 2.7 million to 6.1 million people. Hospitalization rates for AF increased by 23% among US adults from 2000 to 2010 and hospitalizations account for the majority of the economic cost burden associated with AF. AF is a disorder in which the normally regular and coordinated contraction pattern of the heart's two small upper chambers (the atria) becomes irregular and uncoordinated. The irregular contraction pattern associated with AF causes blood to pool in the atria, predisposing the formation of clots potentially resulting in stroke. AF increases the risk of mortality and morbidity due to stroke, congestive heart failure and impaired quality of life. The approved therapies for the treatment or prevention AF have certain disadvantages in patients with heart failure and/or reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFREF) patients. These include toxic or cardiovascular adverse effects, and most of the approved drugs for AF are contra indicated or have warnings in their prescribing information for such patients. The Company believes there is an unmet medical need for new AF treatments that have fewer side effects than currently available therapies and are more effective, particularly in HFREF patients. GENETIC-AF Clinical Trial GENETIC-AF is a Phase 2B/3, multi-center, randomized, double-blind clinical trial comparing the safety and efficacy of Gencaro to Toprol-XL for prevention of symptomatic AF/atrial flutter in HFREF patients. ARCA plans to enroll only patients with the genetic variant of the beta-1 cardiac receptor which the Company believes responds most favorably to Gencaro. GENETIC-AF has an adaptive design, under which the Company initiated the trial as a Phase 2B trial in approximately 200 patients. The GENETIC-AF Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) will analyze certain data from the Phase 2B portion of the trial and recommend, based on a comparison to the pre-trial statistical assumptions, whether the trial should proceed to Phase 3 and seek to enroll an additional 420 patients. The AF indication for Gencaro was chosen based on clinical data from the previously conducted Phase 3 heart failure trial of 2,708 patients (the BEST trial). The Company believes data from the BEST trial indicate that Gencaro may have a genetically regulated effect in reducing or preventing AF, whereas the Company believes the therapeutic benefit of Toprol-XL does not appear to be enhanced in patients with this genotype. A retrospective analysis of data from the BEST trial shows that the entire cohort of patients in the BEST trial treated with Gencaro had a 41% reduction in the risk of new onset AF (time-to-event) compared to placebo (p = 0.0004). In the BEST DNA substudy, patients with the beta-1 389 arginine homozygous genotype experienced a 74% (p = 0.0003) reduction in risk of AF when receiving Gencaro, based on the same analysis.