SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, ProLynx announced publication of data supporting therapy of Type 2 diabetes in cats with PLX039, a GLP-1 receptor agonist that can be administered once every month. The company also announced initiation of recruitment of feline patients in a trial aimed at demonstrating efficacy and safety of PLX039.
The ProLynx half-life extension technology tethers a drug to a carrier by a self-cleaving b-eliminative linker programmed to release the drug at a pre-determined rate; after subcutaneous injection, the drug is slowly released from the carrier depot into the systemic circulation. In the publication (Dom. Animal Endo, 2020, 70, 106373; https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ZfDW_GqSAlNyy), ProLynx showed that PLX039 had identical pharmacokinetics and insulin-releasing activity in cats as exenatide, the first GLP-1 receptor agonist approved for type 2 diabetes in humans. Further, they showed that a single injection delivered desired levels of the drug for over one month. In the trial, cats will be tested for response to PLX039 prior to treatment. In this manner, it is hoped that responsive cats will be preselected for treatment, and non-responsive cats would not be exposed to an ineffective therapy.
Daniel Santi, co-founder and President of ProLynx, said: “We can convert drugs that normally only last hours in the body to formulations that last for a week or even a month.” Eric Schneider, Senior Scientist and project leader, added: “There are almost one-million diabetic cats in the US and Europe. In these cats, PLX039 should allow a single monthly injection instead of the thirty twice-daily injections – a total of 60 per month – of insulin normally used to control the disease. We believe a once-monthly SC injectable treatment of feline diabetes would be welcomed by veterinarians, cat owners and patient cats.”
About ProLynx. ProLynx is a privately held biotechnology company developing proprietary drug delivery systems for half-life extension of proteins, peptides and small molecules. The company improves properties of off-patent therapeutics for its own portfolio, and applies its technology to extend half-lives of drug candidates of pharmaceutical companies. The company is located in San Francisco, CA. For further information visit www.ProLynxllc.com.