BEVERLY, MA – September 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Innovation Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:IPIX) (“the Company”), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, is pleased to inform shareholders that BDD Pharma, the Company’s formulation partner in the area of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), has performed appropriate non-clinical studies that show the oral dosage form meets in vitro specifications for selective delivery of oral Brilacidin to the colon.
Brilacidin tablet design employs BDD Pharma’s patented OralogiK™ technology to provide controlled erosion of a time-dependent barrier layer during small intestine transit. The first clinical trial of oral Brilacidin in the Company’s Ulcerative Colitis program is planned to commence in December 2019 in healthy volunteers in the United Kingdom. It will assess the safety, toleration, pharmacokinetics of Brilacidin, and whether it is being dispersed directly in the colon. Trial data will provide the basis to move forward in clinical development and further build upon the compelling efficacy and good safety results already observed in a completed Phase 2 trial using Brilacidin in a retention enema.
“We are delighted to have met the in vitro specifications for development of an oral Brilacidin product for targeted delivery to the colon and look forward to the upcoming clinical studies to confirm in vivo behaviour,” commented Professor Howard Stevens, Chairman of BDD Pharma.
“We are pleased to be working with BDD Pharma, with their sophisticated and proprietary approach to selectively delivering drugs to the gut—a complex reality,” commented Arthur P. Bertolino, MD, PhD, MBA, President and Chief Medical Officer at Innovation Pharmaceuticals. “Promising oral medications in development for IBD are scant given inherent delivery challenges. BDD’s OralogiK™ technology should enable us to quickly and accurately evaluate oral Brilacidin’s ability to be delivered in a targeted manner to the colon. If successful, Brilacidin’s treatment potential in IBD would be greatly enhanced, paving the way towards advanced clinical trials of Brilacidin in Ulcerative Colitis in 2020 using this technology.”