15 February 2018 - - Lexington, Massachusetts-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNCE) has initiated enrollment of the second cohort of its Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating CTP-543, the company said.
Concert is developing CTP-543, a deuterium-modified analog of ruxolitinib, a Janus Kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of moderate-to-severe alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks hair follicles, resulting in patchy or complete hair loss.
The Phase 2a trial is a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CTP-543 in adults with moderate-to-severe alopecia areata. Approximately 90 patients are being enrolled in the study.
In the second cohort, patients will be administered 8 mg of CTP-543 or placebo twice daily for 24 weeks. The company expects to report topline data from Phase 2a trial in the fourth quarter of 2018.
CTP-543 has been well-tolerated in clinical evaluation to date and has demonstrated a non-clinical safety profile consistent with therapeutic JAK inhibition.
Concert Pharmaceuticals focuses on applying its deuterated chemical entity (DCE) platform to create novel medicines designed to address unmet patient needs.
The company's approach starts with approved drugs in which deuterium substitution has the potential to enhance clinical safety, tolerability or efficacy. Concert has a broad pipeline of innovative medicines targeting autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and central nervous systems disorders.