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Jaguar Health and Napo Pharmaceuticals Provide Key Findings from Cancer-related Diarrhea Abstracts Submitted to ASCO for June 2021 Annual Meeting

Published: May 20, 2021

SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 20, 2021 / Jaguar Health (NASDAQ:JAGX) ("Jaguar" or the "Company") today announced the highlights of the abstract regarding patient outcomes associated with cancer-related diarrhea ("CRD") by Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Napo"), Jaguar's wholly owned subsidiary, and Napo's collaborators that has been accepted for poster presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO®) Annual Meeting, which will be held virtually from June 4-8, 2021. In addition, two CRD-related abstracts from Napo and its collaborators have been accepted for online publication at ASCO.

Abstract accepted for poster presentation: The impact of cancer-related diarrhea on changes in cancer therapy patterns: Real world evidence

  • Poster Session: Symptoms and Survivorship
  • Background: Study of the impact that CRD has on cancer therapy and treatment patterns, including persistence, discontinuation, adherence, and switching of chemotherapy and targeted therapies in patients with and without CRD.
  • Conclusion: Patients with CRD were 40% more likely to discontinue the chemotherapy or targeted therapy than patients without CRD. The persistence of index cancer therapy and time to switch were also lower for patients with CRD. Strategies to control CRD and continue cancer therapy are urgently needed.
  • Lead author: Pablo C. Okhuysen, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases, Infection Control, and Employee Health, Division of Internal Medicine, at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Additional authors include Lee Schwartzberg, M.D., FACP and Eric Roeland, M.D., FAAHPM.

Abstract accepted for online publication: Characterizing unplanned resource utilization associated with cancer-related diarrhea

  • Background: In clinical oncology practice, diarrhea is a very common and severe side effect of cancer treatments including from radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapies. CRD leads to increased healthcare resource consumption due to unscheduled outpatient visits, and increased hospital stays requiring intensive supportive care measures. We evaluated CRD patients receiving chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or both, requiring emergency department, physician office visits, hospitalizations, and length of stay compared to a matched cohort of non-CRD patients.
  • Conclusion: Patients with CRD used significantly more resources, including outpatient services, ED visits, and hospitalizations. Effective prevention of CRD remains an unmet strategy to reduce the overall cost of cancer care.
  • Lead author: Lee Schwartzberg, M.D., FACP, a renowned medical oncologist and hematologist who serves as Executive Director of West Cancer Center in Memphis, Tennessee. Additional authors include Eric Roeland, M.D., FAAHPM and Pablo C. Okhuysen, M.D.

Abstract accepted for online publication: Healthcare utilization and costs associated with cancer-related diarrhea

  • Background: Diarrhea is a common toxicity of cancer treatments, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and/or targeted therapies. CRD leads to increased healthcare utilization and cost. This study evaluated the all-cause and CRD-specific healthcare utilization and cost of patients with CRD compared to a matched non-CRD cohort.
  • Conclusion: Our findings show that patients with CRD had nearly 2.9 times higher all-cause total cost than patients without CRD after adjusting for covariates. Prevention of CRD may result in a significant reduction in cancer-treatment cost.
  • Lead author: Eric Roeland, M.D., FAAHPM, Attending Physician, Center for Palliative Care, Harvard Medical School. Additional authors include Pablo C. Okhuysen, M.D. and Lee Schwartzberg, M.D., FACP.

All three authors serve as key opinion leaders/consultants to Napo.

ASCO received more than 5,400 abstracts for the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting, which were reviewed by the Society's Scientific Program Committee and ASCO Leadership. Additional information about the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting can be found on the ASCO website: https://meetings.asco.org/am/attend.

As previously announced, Napo's pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of crofelemer (Mytesi®) for prophylaxis of diarrhea in adult cancer patients receiving targeted therapy was initiated in October 2020 and is ongoing.

About Jaguar Health, Inc. and Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Jaguar Health, Inc. is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, plant-based, non-opioid, and sustainably derived prescription medicines for people and animals with GI distress, specifically chronic, debilitating diarrhea. Our wholly owned subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., focuses on developing and commercializing proprietary plant-based human gastrointestinal pharmaceuticals from plants harvested responsibly from rainforest areas. Our Mytesi® (crofelemer) product is approved by the U.S. FDA for the symptomatic relief of noninfectious diarrhea in adults with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy and the only oral plant-based prescription medicine approved under FDA Botanical Guidance.

For more information about Jaguar, please visit https://jaguar.health. For more information about Napo, visit www.napopharma.com.

About Mytesi®

Mytesi® (crofelemer) is an antidiarrheal indicated for the symptomatic relief of noninfectious diarrhea in adult patients with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Mytesi® is not indicated for the treatment of infectious diarrhea. Rule out infectious etiologies of diarrhea before starting Mytesi®. If infectious etiologies are not considered, there is a risk that patients with infectious etiologies will not receive the appropriate therapy and their disease may worsen. In clinical studies, the most common adverse reactions occurring at a rate greater than placebo were upper respiratory tract infection (5.7%), bronchitis (3.9%), cough (3.5%), flatulence (3.1%), and increased bilirubin (3.1%).

More information and complete Prescribing Information are available at Mytesi.com. Crofelemer, the active ingredient in Mytesi®, is a botanical (plant-based) drug extracted and purified from the red bark sap of the medicinal Croton lechleri tree in the Amazon Rainforest. Napo has established a sustainable harvesting program for crofelemer to ensure a high degree of quality and ecological integrity.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements." In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "aim," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are only predictions. Jaguar has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond Jaguar's control. Some of the factors that could affect our actual results are included in the periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by applicable law, Jaguar does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

Source: Jaguar Health, Inc.

Contact:
Peter Hodge
Jaguar Health, Inc.
phodge@jaguar.health
Jaguar-JAGX

SOURCE: Jaguar Health, Inc.

 


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