Cara Therapeutics, Inc.
CARA, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and
commercializing new chemical entities designed to alleviate pain and pruritus
by selectively targeting kappa opioid receptors, today announced the
successful completion of a Phase 1a / 1b clinical trial of an oral tablet
formulation of its peripherally-selective kappa opioid agonist, CR845, for the
treatment of acute and chronic pain.
The double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluated the
pharmacokinetic and safety profile of single and multiple escalating doses of
Oral CR845 in 150 healthy volunteers at a single U.S. site. The single
ascending dose study, which included six tablet strengths ranging from 0.1 mg
to 10 mg, demonstrated a mean oral bioavailability of 10% across all dose
groups under fasting conditions, with a range of maximum plasma concentrations
of CR845 bracketing the concentrations seen in previously successful Phase 2
trials with I.V. CR845. All tested dose strengths were also shown to be active
at the kappa opioid receptor, as assessed by statistically significant
(p<0.0001) acute changes in blood measurements of an established
neuroendocrine biomarker.
The multiple ascending dose study, which used repeat dose studies of the 0.1
mg, 1 mg and 5 mg tablets, administered twice a day (b.i.d.) for one week,
demonstrated that all tablet doses were well tolerated with no serious adverse
events (SAEs) reported and all adverse events (AEs) were mild and generally
similar to those reported with I.V. CR845. Additionally, clinical safety
laboratory measurements were normal across all tablet strengths after single
or repeat dosing.
"Successful completion of this Phase 1 trial of the tablet formulation of Oral
CR845 represents a key milestone for Cara as we look to expand the clinical
development of CR845 beyond the treatment of acute pain in a hospital
setting," said Derek Chalmers, Ph.D., D.Sc., President and Chief Executive
Officer of Cara Therapeutics. "We are very encouraged that the plasma levels
of CR845 attained within this tablet strength range equaled or exceeded those
previously associated with clinical analgesic effects seen in acute
post-operative pain models with I.V. CR845."
Dr. Chalmers also noted, "These findings complement our recently successful
human abuse liability study of I.V. CR845, as well as our recently completed
quantitative primary research study indicating that Oral CR845 has the
potential to meet a significant physician demand for a safer, non-abusable
alternative to narcotic opioids and NSAIDs for the treatment of
moderate-to-severe acute and chronic pain."
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