Omeros Phase 2a Trial Of OMS824 Yields More Positive Results

(RTTNews) - Omeros Corp. (OMER), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on treating coagulopathies and disorders of the central nervous system, Thursday announced additional positive results from a Phase 2a clinical trial of OMS824, a drug that selectively inhibits PDE10, an enzyme expressed in areas of the brain linked to a wide range of diseases that affect cognition, including schizophrenia and Huntington's disease.

Patients with schizophrenia were given a higher dose than in any prior OMS824 trial. The higher dosage resulted in about 50 percent more plasma concentrations than did the previously reported highest dose, while having a similar side-effect profile as those of the lower doses.

The drug concentrations in schizophrenia patients were also approximately 50 percent higher than levels that corresponded to an average of 66 percent target interaction (a high of approximately 70 percent) at PDE10 in a Phase 1 positron emission tomography (PET) trial in healthy subjects, the company said.

According to Omeros, till now the OMS824 PET trial has demonstrated significantly higher target interaction at PDE10 without extrapyramidal symptoms such as loss of muscle control, e.g., muscle rigidity, tremors, or involuntary muscle movements, than has been reported for any other PDE10 inhibitor in development.

OMS824 can be combined with standard antipsychotic medications and at tolerated does, "yields plasma concentrations that are predicted to achieve a high degree of PDE10 target interaction in the striatum."

An additional PET trail cohort is planned in the coming weeks."We look forward to completing the PET cohort and to evaluating the compound's efficacy in our currently enrolling Phase 2 Huntington's trial and our ongoing Phase 2 program in patients with schizophrenia," said Gregory A. Demopulos, CEO of Omeros.