Kadmon Corporation’s Lupus Treatment Candidate Designated Top Priority

The Kadmon Corporation’s Phase 2 oral drug, KD025, a potent, bio-available and highly selective inhibitor of ROCK2 (Rho-associated coiled-coiled kinase 2) that can be taken orally was designed as one of its priority candidates to treat lupus through the LRxL-STAT Lupus Drug Repositioning Initiative. The selection of the drug was presented at the annual American College of Rheumatology meeting in November by Amrie Grammer, Ph.D., and Peter Lipsky, M.D.

The LRxL-STAT Lupus Drug Repositioning Initiative is a joint effort of the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR) and the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) to accelerate the identification of new treatments with high potential for treating lupus. In collaboration with AMPEL BioSolutions, 157 potential therapies were evaluated and ranked through the CoLT, or Combined Lupus Treatment, scoring system, including KD025.

KD025 showed therapeutic capacities in preclinical studies to treat lupus since it was the best applicant in the small molecules category. Biomarker-rich proof-of-concept clinical trials of KD025 will start in the 2nd quarter of 2015 and it will be conducted by the LRxL-STAT Lupus Clinical Investigators Network (LuCIN) that include 50 scientists specialized in lupus.

Peter Lipsky, M.D., said in a press release: “Current treatment options for lupus are limited, and there is an urgent need for new therapies. Selective ROCK2 inhibition by KD025 represents an important novel therapeutic approach for lupus, and we look forward to conducting trials of KD025 and other top priority treatment candidates as we work to quickly bring new lupus therapies to patients.”

John Ryan, Ph.D., M.D., Chief Medical Officer at Kadmon added: “We are pleased that KD025, which has shown encouraging data in preclinical studies of lupus, has been recognized as a promising new candidate in the next generation of lupus treatments. We are excited to support LuCIN’s research in lupus as we continue to advance our KD025 Phase 2 clinical program for other autoimmune diseases.”