In an interview with Pharm Exec Associate Editor Don Tracy, Howard Berman, Chairman, CEO, Coya Therapeutics, provides an update on the progress of Coya 302 as a treatment for ALS.
PE: Recently, Coya presented data from a study of Coya 302 for the treatment of ALS. Can you briefly describe what this data discovered?
Berman: First, let me say that Coya 302 is a combination of two different drugs. It's a low-dose IL-2, to enhance regulatory T cells, and CTLA-4, which is abatacept, which suppresses other pro inflammatory cell types. It's synergistic. We ran a proof of concept study for patients who were progressing relatively quickly, prior to treatment. We measured safety, tolerability, biomarkers, and the efficacy, which is the ALS FRS scale. That's the typical scale that is measured in ALS patients. At six months, we showed that instead of declining six or seven or eight points, which you would typically see, there was no decline in all four of our patients. Then at 12 months, where you would typically see a decline of maybe 14 points on the scale, there was only a very minor decline of 1.5 points. So, it means that the treatment is first of all reducing inflammation, reducing oxidative stress and different biomarkers we've discovered, and it seems to be well tolerated. It also seems to somehow slow or stop the progression of the disease. Of course, it's a small study, but we've seen it in all four patients. Correlating with the biomarkers, we're doing a larger trial, which is in process and we're filing the IND very soon.
Key Findings of the NIAGARA and HIMALAYA Trials
November 8th 2024In this episode of the Pharmaceutical Executive podcast, Shubh Goel, head of immuno-oncology, gastrointestinal tumors, US oncology business unit, AstraZeneca, discusses the findings of the NIAGARA trial in bladder cancer and the significance of the five-year overall survival data from the HIMALAYA trial, particularly the long-term efficacy of the STRIDE regimen for unresectable liver cancer.
Cell and Gene Therapy Check-in 2024
January 18th 2024Fran Gregory, VP of Emerging Therapies, Cardinal Health discusses her career, how both CAR-T therapies and personalization have been gaining momentum and what kind of progress we expect to see from them, some of the biggest hurdles facing their section of the industry, the importance of patient advocacy and so much more.
ROI and Rare Disease: Retooling the ‘Gene’ Value Machine
November 14th 2024Framework proposes three strategies designed to address the unique challenges of personalized and genetic therapies for rare diseases—and increase the probability of economic success for a new wave of potential curative treatments for these conditions.