—Company receives FDA IND clearance for the development of enobosarm in combination with GLP-1 drugs for potentially higher quality weight loss than has been shown with GLP-1 drug alone—
—Company to initiate Phase 2b obesity study by April 2024—
—Company completed public offering for net proceeds of
—Company to host conference call and webcast today at 8:00 a.m. ET—
“FDA’s clearance of the Investigational New Drug application (IND) for the planned enobosarm clinical trial to further increase fat loss and weight loss while preventing the significant muscle loss that occurs with weight-loss drugs, is a significant milestone for Veru,” said
Metabolic Disease Program Update:
The Company’s metabolic disease drug pipeline is focused on the clinical development of enobosarm, a novel oral selective androgen receptor modulator, to preserve muscle while augmenting fat loss in patients receiving a GLP-1 RA for weight loss.
Enobosarm (aka ostarine, MK-2866, GTx-024, and VERU-024), a novel oral daily selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM), has been previously studied in 5 clinical studies involving 968 older normal men and postmenopausal women as well as older patients who have muscle wasting because of advanced cancer. Advanced cancer simulates a “starvation state” where there is significant unintentional loss or wasting of both muscle and fat mass similar to what is observed with GLP-1 RA treatment. The totality of the clinical data from these five clinical trials demonstrates that enobosarm treatment leads to dose-dependent increases in muscle mass with improvements in physical function as well as significant dose-dependent reductions in fat mass. The patient data that were generated from these five enobosarm clinical trials in both elderly patients and in patients with a cancer induced starvation-like state provide strong clinical rationale for enobosarm. The expectation is that enobosarm in combination with a GLP-1 RA would potentially augment the fat reduction and total weight loss while avoiding muscle loss.
In addition, enobosarm has a large safety database, which includes 27 clinical trials involving 1581 men and women dosed with duration of treatment in some patients for up to 3 years. In this large safety database, enobosarm was generally well tolerated with no increase in gastrointestinal side effects. This is important as there are already significant and frequent gastrointestinal side effects with a GLP-1 RA treatment alone.
Initially, enobosarm will be developed in a Phase 2b clinical study to address the large subpopulation of sarcopenic obese or overweight elderly patients receiving a GLP-1 RA who are at-risk for developing muscle atrophy and muscle weakness leading to physical function mobility disability and frailty.
Phase 2b multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, dose-finding clinical trial to evaluate enobosarm as a treatment to augment fat loss and to prevent muscle loss in receiving GLP-1 drug for weight loss.
We submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for enobosarm in
After completing the efficacy dose-finding portion of the Phase 2b clinical trial, it is expected that participants will then continue into an open label extension trial where all patients will receive 6 mg of enobosarm monotherapy for 12 weeks to determine the ability of enobosarm to rescue, or reverse muscle loss and prevent fat and weight rebound after stopping a GLP-1 RA. The results of the separate Phase 2b open label extension clinical study are expected in calendar Q2 2025.
Other Program Updates:
The Company’s oncology drug pipeline is focused on the clinical development of enobosarm, an oral selective androgen receptor agonist, for the 2nd line treatment of metastatic breast cancer.
Enobosarm is a new kind of endocrine therapy for advanced breast cancer. Enobosarm is an oral, new chemical entity, selective androgen receptor agonist that activates the androgen receptor (AR) in AR+ ER+ HER2- metastatic breast cancer, which suppresses tumor growth without the unwanted masculinizing side effects and increases in hematocrit seen with androgens. Enobosarm was being developed in a Phase 3 clinical trial for treatment of androgen receptor positive (AR+), estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer in the 2nd line setting. As we have prioritized our clinical programs to focus on enobosarm for obesity, the continued clinical development of enobosarm for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer is subject to the availability of sufficient funding.
The Company’s infectious disease pipeline is focused on the clinical development of sabizabulin, an oral, microtubule disruptor for hospitalized adult COVID-19 patients at high risk for ARDS.
The Company is developing sabizabulin 9mg, a novel oral microtubule disruptor, which has both host targeted antiviral and broad anti-inflammatory properties, as a two-pronged approach to the treatment of hospitalized patients with viral lung infection at high risk for ARDS and death. The Company has completed positive Phase 2 and positive Phase 3 COVID-19 clinical studies that have demonstrated that sabizabulin treatment resulted in a mortality benefit in hospitalized moderate to severe patients with COVID-19 viral lung infection at high risk for ARDS and death. The Company met with the FDA and reached agreement on the design of the Phase 3 confirmatory COVID-19 clinical trial to evaluate sabizabulin treatment of hospitalized moderate to severe COVID-19 patients who are at high risk for ARDS and the path forward to submit a new EUA application and/or NDA. Although we received agreement from the FDA on the design of a Phase 3 clinical trial broadly evaluating sabizabulin in any viral-induced ARDS, we will continue to seek external funding through government grants, pharmaceutical partnerships, and similar sources to fund the clinical development program. Without such external funding, we do not plan to advance the Phase 3 development of sabizabulin as a treatment for viral-induced ARDS.
FC2 Female Condom® (internal condom)
The Company sells FC2 in both the
Telehealth is an important commercial strategy in the
In the global public health sector, the Company markets FC2 to entities, including ministries of health, government health agencies, U.N. agencies, nonprofit organizations and commercial partners, that work to support and improve the lives, health and well-being of women around the world. We are currently supplying a large multi-year South African tender for female condoms, which is expected to continue until 2025 and have seen sales grow in the current year as the current tender launched. We also expect a formal
First Quarter Financial Summary: Fiscal 2024 vs Fiscal 2023
- Net revenues decreased to
$2.1 million from$2.5 million - Gross profit increased to
$1.2 million from$0.7 million
Balance Sheet Information
- Cash and cash equivalents were
$40.6 million as ofDecember 31, 2023 versus$9.6 million as ofSeptember 30, 2023
Event Details
The audio webcast will be accessible under the Investors page of the Company’s website at www.verupharma.com. To join the conference call via telephone, please dial 1-800-341-1602 (domestic) or 1-412-902-6706 (international) and ask to join the
About Sarcopenic Obesity
According to the
About
Veru is a late clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel medicines for the treatment of metabolic diseases, oncology, and ARDS. The Company’s drug development program includes two late-stage novel small molecules, enobosarm and sabizabulin.
Metabolic pipeline: Enobosarm (aka ostarine, MK-2866, GTx-024, and VERU-024), an oral daily novel selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM), is being developed as a treatment in combination with weight loss drugs to augment fat loss and avoid muscle loss in overweight or obese patients for chronic weight management. Initially, enobosarm will be developed in a Phase 2b clinical study to address the large subpopulation of sarcopenic obese or overweight elderly patients receiving a GLP-1 RA who are at-risk for developing muscle atrophy and muscle weakness leading to physical function mobility disability and frailty.
Oncology pipeline: Phase 3 clinical development of enobosarm for treatment of androgen receptor positive (AR+), estrogen receptor positive (ER+) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer in the 2nd line setting.
Infectious disease pipeline: sabizabulin, a microtubule disruptor, is being developed as a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of hospitalized patients with viral-induced ARDS. The Company does not intend to undertake further development of sabizabulin for the treatment of viral-induced ARDS until we obtain funding from government grants, pharmaceutical company partnerships, or other similar third-party external sources.
The Company also has an FDA-approved commercial product, the FC2 Female Condom® (Internal Condom), for the dual protection against unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, express or implied statements related to Veru’s expectations regarding whether and when the planned phase 2b trial of enobosarm discussed above will commence by
Investor and Media Contact:
Executive Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Email: veruinvestor@verupharma.com
Source:
2024 GlobeNewswire, Inc., source