AstraZeneca has scrapped an asthma program after the FLAP inhibitor flopped in a phase 2 trial.
The U.K.-based Big Pharma had been evaluating the therapy, called atuliflapon, in a midstage study of 666 patients with moderate-to-severe uncontrolled asthma. The trial kicked off in 2022, according to the federal trials database, with the aim of demonstrating that atuliflapon could slow the occurrence of the first serious asthma exacerbation when compared to placebo over 12 weeks.
However, AstraZeneca disclosed in its first-quarter earnings documents (PDF) that the company has discontinued the trial “due to efficacy.” Atuliflapon has also been removed from the pharma’s pipeline entirely.
The 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (FLAP) is an important component in the leukotriene pathway, the signaling process that controls inflammation and immunity. However, no FLAP inhibitors have yet made it to market.
GSK licensed FLAP inhibitors from Amiris Pharmaceuticals back in 2008. The Big Pharma took one of these therapies, renamed fiboflapon, as far as a phase 2 asthma study before halting the trial early.
As well as dumping atuliflapon, AstraZeneca also disclosed this morning that it had ended work on three other programs, blaming each decision on a “strategic portfolio prioritization.”
They included ALXN2420, a GH receptor antagonist that the pharma had been evaluating in a phase 2 study of 60 patients with pituitary gland disorder acromegaly. It marks the latest drug to be scrapped from AstraZeneca’s rare disease unit since the company bought Alexion back in 2020.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca revealed it has ended work on AZD1705, an ANGPTL3 inhibitor that was being evaluated in a phase 1 study of 112 patients with dyslipidemia. The other phase 1 asset thrown on the scrap heap was AZD6912, a siRNA drug being tested in 40 healthy volunteers that was being lined up as a potential treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.
AstraZeneca has other siRNA drugs still in the works, such as ALXN2030, an siRNA targeting the C3 complement protein, which has entered a phase 2 study in kidney transplant patients experiencing antibodies attacking their new organ.
