PHILADELPHIA and PALO ALTO, Calif., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company, today announced that its scientists presented AN2690’s novel mechanism of action at the Society for Investigative Dermatology Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. AN2690, the first in a new class of antifungal agents, is being developed for onychomycosis, a fungal infection of the nail and nail bed that affects approximately seven to ten percent of the U.S. population. Two additional posters detailing AN2690’s discovery and preclinical development were presented.
“These presentations illustrate the breadth of Anacor’s boron chemistry and demonstrate that AN2690 is a potent antifungal drug, which acts directly on fungal infections in a new and powerful way,” said Jacob Plattner, Senior Vice President of Research at Anacor. “Such activity makes AN2690 a unique treatment.”
Unlike most antifungal drugs that work by targeting the fungal cell wall, Anacor researchers showed that AN2690 inhibits protein synthesis within fungi. The poster presentation entitled, AN2690, A Topical Antifungal Agent In Development For The Treatment Of Onychomycosis Represents A New Class of Inhibitor With A Novel Mechanism Of Action (Poster # 769), details how Anacor scientists mapped AN2690-resistant mutations to the CDC60 gene, which codes for leucyl-tRNA synthetase, and found that the drug inhibits the editing domain of this enzyme, ultimately resulting in the interruption of protein synthesis.
In addition, Anacor presented two posters detailing AN2690 preclinical development:
-- Medicinal Chemistry Of AN2690, A Novel Broad-Spectrum Antifungal Agent In Development For The Topical Treatment Of Onychomycosis (Poster # 775). -- In vitro Nail Penetration Profile Of AN2690, A Novel Broad-Spectrum Antifungal Agent In Development For The Topical Treatment Of Onychomycosis (Poster # 750). AN2690 Phase 2 Program
Anacor is evaluating AN2690 in two Phase 2 studies. Primary endpoints for both studies are greater than 5 mm clear nail growth at six months, or nails judged by investigators to be “clear” or “almost clear”, and a negative culture for infection at the end of the trial period.
The first is an open-label study of 60 patients with onychomycosis who receive either a 5 percent or 7.5 percent solution of AN2690 applied once a day for six months. Recently reported preliminary interim results from the first 90 days of this study in 24 patients receiving the 5 percent solution showed 2.6 mm average “clear” nail growth, and that 100 percent of fungal cultures were negative for infection after 30 days.
The second study is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, six-month trial of 180 patients who receive 2.5 percent, 5 percent or 7.5 percent solutions of AN2690 or a placebo, applied daily.
About Onychomycosis
Onychomycosis affects seven to ten percent of the U.S. population, including 48 percent of those over age 70. Without treatment, the nails thicken and cause localized pressure-related pain. Dermatophytes are the primary fungi that cause onychomycosis with two strains, Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton mentagrophytes, accounting for more than 90 percent of cases. Yeast-based infections are the second most common cause. Topical treatments succeed in fewer than 12 percent of patients, yet achieve sales of approximately $300 million a year worldwide. Systemic treatments are effective in approximately half of all cases, but have known toxicity. Sales of the largest selling systemic drugs for onychomycosis each exceed $1 billion annually worldwide.
About Anacor Pharmaceuticals
Anacor, a privately held, clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, is developing novel product candidates for inflammatory and infectious diseases based on its proprietary, small-molecule, boron-based chemistry. Initially, Anacor is focusing development efforts on dermatological disorders with AN2690 in Phase 2 trials for onychomycosis, a fungal infection of nails and nailbeds. A second product candidate, AN0128, is in Phase 2 clinical trials for atopic dermatitis.
Anacor Pharmaceuticals
CONTACT: David Perry, Chief Executive Officer of Anacor Pharmaceuticals,+1-650-739-0700; or Daryl Messinger of WeissComm Partners, Inc.,+1-415-999-2361, or daryl@weisscommpartners.com
Web site: http://www.anacor.com//
