CRANBURY, N.J., Oct. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Palatin Technologies, Inc. (NYSE American: PTN) announced that John Dodd, Ph.D., Palatin’s Vice President of Pre-Clinical Development, provided a presentation on Palatin’s oral colon delivery formulation, PL8177 in development for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, at the 7th CPC Symposium on Peptide Therapeutics in Hangzhou, China. Dr. Dodd was invited by symposium organizers to speak about the challenges of peptide drug development. His presentation outlined how the oral colon delivery formulation of PL8177 effectively addresses the issues of peptide drug delivery and included efficacy data from preclinical ulcerative colitis studies and safety data from Phase 1 clinical studies.
“Palatin has taken significant steps in developing an oral delivery formulation of PL8177 for treatment of ulcerative colitis,” said Carl Spana, Ph.D., President and CEO of Palatin. “We look forward to leveraging our experience and expertise in melanocortin product development as we continue with our PL8177 program. The encouraging safety profile, preclinical efficacy, and novel mechanism of action of PL8177 could compete well in the treatment of ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory bowel diseases.”
PL8177 is a potent melanocortin receptor 1 agonist that has demonstrated excellent safety in early non-clinical and clinical studies. The oral formulation has not resulted in any detectable systemic absorption, suggesting a very low probability of any safety issues in human efficacy trials. The oral delivery formulation successfully delivered PL8177 to the human colon lumen. Preclinical models of inflammatory bowel disease demonstrated delivery of PL8177 to rat colon lumen with excellent potency and efficacy.
Palatin currently plans to initiate human Phase 2 proof-of-principle studies in ulcerative colitis in the first half of 2020.
About PL8177
PL8177 is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide with demonstrated efficacy in animal inflammatory bowel disease models. Palatin has developed an oral formulation for delivery of PL8177 to the lumen of the colon that has been validated in animal studies. PL8177 is a potent agonist at the human melanocortin receptor 1, with sub-nanomolar affinity binding and EC50 functional values.
About Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis is a chronic disease of the large intestine (colon), with inflammation and ulcerations that can cause significant abdominal pain, persistent diarrhea, loss of appetite and other symptoms. Over 700,000 individuals in the United States are affected by ulcerative colitis, with over 350,000 diagnosed with moderate-to-severe disease. Existing treatments are not effective in a large portion of patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis, with some severe cases resulting in surgical removal of the colon.
About Palatin Technologies, Inc.
Palatin Technologies, Inc. is focused on developing drugs that modulate the melanocortin system to treat diseases and conditions with significant unmet medical need and commercial potential. Palatin’s strategy is to develop products and then form marketing collaborations with industry leaders in order to maximize their commercial potential. For additional information regarding Palatin, please visit Palatin’s website at www.Palatin.com.
SOURCE Palatin Technologies, Inc.
