Apellis Pharmaceuticals to acquire Potentia Pharmaceuticals
Apellis Pharmaceuticals recently announced it entered into an agreement to acquire Potentia Pharmaceuticals. As part of the acquisition agreement, Apellis obtained the necessary intellectual property rights to develop its complement inhibitor drug compound (APL-2) in ophthalmology and plans its first clinical trial in dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD).
Complement inhibition is the only mechanism thus far to show reductions in the growth of dry AMD. Potentia was the first company to develop a complement inhibitor for the treatment of AMD. APL-2 has the same mechanism of action as Potentia’s original drug compound but has a significantly improved half-life in the eye. APL-2 is in late preclinical development in ophthalmology and is expected to enter Phase II clinical testing in patients with AMD by the middle of 2015.
Cedric Francois, MD, PhD, and CEO of Apellis said “We are delighted to be back in retinal drug development. Ophthalmology is a unique therapeutic area that is very dear to us. We have learned much about complement since our first venture in this area a decade ago, and have great hopes that complement inhibition will be the first effective treatment for patients with dry AMD.”
“There’s overwhelming scientific and clinical evidence to suggest that complement inhibition should slow the progression of dry AMD,” added Phil Rosenfeld, MD, a retinal specialist at Bascom Palmer and advisor to Apellis. “I’m optimistic that based on its mechanism of action and its target within the complement cascade, APL-2 offers us the best chance to help our AMD patients.”
Apellis is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company and targets the complement pathways to correct auto-immune conditions. Apellis was spun out of Potentia Pharmaceuticals, the first company to test complement-inhibiting therapies in AMD. Apellis will seek to further explore the interface between complement and adaptive immunity in a range of indications, including paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), AMD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as well as graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), ABO-incompatible transplantation, periodontitis, and ischemia reperfusion injury. For more information, visit www.apellis.com.
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