BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announces the initial results from the ZENITH-1 trial showing that a single 750 mg oral dose of BCX7353 was well tolerated and superior to placebo (p<0.05) against the majority of efficacy endpoints evaluated in HAE patients suffering an acute attack. BCX7353 is a novel oral plasma kallikrein inhibitor being developed for both prophylactic and acute treatment of HAE attacks.

In order to guide selection of dose and endpoints for a potential future registration trial for the acute treatment of HAE attacks, ZENITH-1 was designed as an exploratory trial to determine if BCX7353 showed a clinically meaningful benefit on any of several different efficacy endpoints evaluating HAE attack symptom severity.

In the 750 mg dose cohort of the trial, which has completed, 33 patients treated a total of 95 attacks (64 with BCX7353, 31 with placebo). Patients self-treated their HAE attacks on a blinded basis with oral BCX7353 or oral placebo and recorded their symptoms and attack severity using both a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and a standardized questionnaire. Patients also recorded the time they used any standard-of-care (SOC) acute treatment medicine.  BCX7353 was superior to placebo for multiple clinical outcomes.

Importantly, compared to placebo, improvement in symptoms and VAS scores was seen as early as one hour after oral BCX7353 dosing, and was sustained through 24 hours. Through 24 hours, SOC medication use was reduced by 31.6 percent after BCX7353 compared with placebo (p=0.0029), and no or mild symptoms were reported in 64.1 percent of attacks treated with BCX7353 compared with 32.3 percent of attacks treated with placebo (p=0.0038).

These and the other clinically meaningful results from ZENITH-1 highlight an attractive profile for patients seeking an oral treatment for acute HAE attacks.

In the ZENITH-1 trial, oral BCX7353 750 mg was generally safe and well tolerated. No serious adverse events were reported in patients receiving BCX7353. There were no grade 3 or 4 adverse events, and no grade 2, 3 or 4 laboratory abnormalities. The most commonly reported adverse events were nasopharyngitis (4/64 attacks treated with BCX7353 vs 1/31 for placebo), diarrhea (3/64 with BCX7353 vs 0/31 for placebo) and headache (3/64 with BCX7353 vs 0/31 for placebo). There were two discontinuations in the trial. One patient discontinued following a BCX7353 dose due to a transient, localized rash and one patient discontinued following a placebo dose due to abdominal pain.

“ZENITH-1 represents a groundbreaking study, as the first clinical trial to demonstrate effective treatment of acute HAE attacks with an oral therapy.  The observed effect of BCX7353 within one hour of dosing and the substantial reduction in rescue medication use compared to placebo suggest that BCX7353 has outstanding potential to offer physicians and patients an urgently needed new oral therapy option,” said Dr. Hilary Longhurst, honorary consultant immunologist, Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, UK, and principal investigator of the ZENITH-1 trial.

Results from the ongoing evaluation of the 250 mg and 500 mg dose levels of oral BCX7353 in ZENITH-1 are expected in the first quarter of 2019.

“These results from ZENITH-1, combined with the results we saw in APeX-1, are evidence that BCX7353 would be the first safe and effective oral drug for both treating and preventing HAE attacks.  We know the HAE community is waiting for an oral option and we look forward to completing APeX-2 and to submitting our applications for product approval to regulatory authorities,” said Jon Stonehouse, CEO of BioCryst.

Registration trials for previously approved injectable acute therapies for HAE were conducted in the clinic setting. In these studies, investigational treatment was administered in medical facilities by investigators at least four hours following onset of symptoms. ZENITH-1 is the first controlled clinical trial in the HAE acute therapy setting to assess patient-administered treatment at home, enabling treatment to be given quickly after the onset of symptoms.

“We are thrilled to see such a robust treatment effect with BCX7353 in ZENITH-1, using a modern approach with self-administered therapy. We were able to demonstrate clinically important treatment effects very early after oral dosing, which lasted through 24 hours,” said Dr. William Sheridan, chief medical officer of BioCryst.
(Source: BioCryst)