Pharming Group N.V announced that the first patient has been enrolled in a Phase IIb double-blind, randomized, controlled study to assess the efficacy of RUCONEST® (recombinant human C1 esterase inhibitor, or "rhC1INH") for the prevention of acute kidney injury after non-ST elevation myocardial infarction at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. In October 2018, Pharming Group N.V. announced positive results from a Phase II investigator-initiated, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of RUCONEST® in patients at risk of nephropathy following coronary angiography. The positive results were especially clear in the sub-group of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions such as stent insertions. The intent-to-treat analysis in this group showed that patients on RUCONEST® had a median percentage change in peak urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin within 48 hours, the primary endpoint for the study and a generally-recognized early marker of acute renal injury, of 11.3% in the RUCONEST® arm and 205.2% in the placebo arm (p=0.001). The overall assessment of the study also showed trends that patients undergoing more invasive interventions and procedures requiring higher volumes of contrast medium experienced a stronger benefit from treatment with RUCONEST®. Following these encouraging results, the Company, in partnership with treating physician Dr Michael Osthoff from the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland, saw potential for a larger, randomized, controlled multicenter study to investigate the full extent of the role of RUCONEST® in the prevention of acute kidney damage after percutaneous coronary intervention for myocardial infarction. If successful, the clinical trial could also support further development of RUCONEST® to prevent AKI from a wide variety of causes.