Pfizer News: Alopecia Drugs Show Promise, and Company Inks Deal with Atomwise
Pfizer announced results from its Phase IIa clinical trial of PF-06651600 and PF-06700841 in alopecia areata (AA).
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease resulting in hair loss, which can also affect fingernails and toenails.
PF-06651600 is an oral Janus kinase (JAK) 3 inhibitor. PF-06700841 is a tyrosine kinase (TYK) 2/JAK1 inhibitor. The drugs were compared to placebo in patients with moderate to severe alopecia areata. Both JAK inhibitors met the primary efficacy endpoint—improving hair regrowth on the scalp as measured by the Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score.
The findings were presented at the 27th European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress in Paris, France.
“We are pleased with these results and excited by the potential of kinase inhibition as a new therapeutic target for patients living with alopecia areata,” stated Michael Vincent, senior vice president and chief scientific officer, Pfizer Inflammation and Immunology. “This is the first well-controlled study of oral JAK inhibitors in alopecia areata, helping enhance our understanding of this disease with significant unmet need and advance the science of kinase inhibition.”
Out of the 100-point SALT score, the JAK 3 inhibitor received a score of 33.6 and the TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor had a SALT score of 49.5. Because of the results, the JAK3 inhibitor, which was granted Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA for alopecia areata, will advance to Phase III for moderate to severe AA. It will also continue to be evaluated for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The TYK2/JAK1 will not continue with AA, but will continue to be studied for psoriasis, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
“People living with alopecia areata face a difficult journey as there are currently no approved treatments,” said Rodney Sinclair, a study investigator from Sinclair Dermatology in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in a statement. “The results seen with these JAK inhibitors are very encouraging for me as a clinician as they signal a potential new way to think about the treatment of alopecia, which may bring hope for patients with this distressing condition.”
Also today, San Francisco-based Atomwise, a company specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) for drug discovery and design, signed an evaluation agreement with Pfizer. Pfizer intends to evaluate the company’s platform to identify possible drug candidates for up to three target proteins chosen by Pfizer.
Pfizer is paying a technology access fee and additional success-based payments for each target protein. Atomwise will “computationally analyze millions of diverse small molecules for each of Pfizer’s identified target proteins using its cutting-edge AI platform to predict those that may bind with high affinity to the selected target proteins,” Atomwise said in a statement. “Atomwise’s medicinal and computational chemistry teams will also work with Pfizer scientists to define the required potency and other chemical properties of the small molecules for the targets of interest.”
Atomwise holds the first deep learning technology patent for structure-based small molecule drug discovery. It analyzes millions of data points and thousands of protein structures. The company to date has partnered with more than 50 top academic institutions and hospitals and with some of the world’s biggest pharma and agrochemical companies.
It recently raised $45 million in Series A financing. The round was led by Monsanto Growth Ventures, DCVC, and B Capital Group. Previous investors participating included Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, and DFC, and were joined by new investors Baidu Ventures and Dolby Family Ventures. It was an oversubscribed round that brought in more than $51 million.