Leriglitazone is a unique peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐gamma (PPARγ) agonist that crosses the blood–brain barrier in humans and clinical trials have shown evidence of efficacy in ...neurodegenerative diseases. At clinical doses which are well‐tolerated, leriglitazone reaches the target central nervous system (CNS) concentrations that are needed for PPARγ engagement and efficacy; PPARγ engagement is also supported by clinical and anti‐inflammatory biomarker changes in the Cerebrospinal fluid in the CNS. Plasma pharmacokinetics (PK) of leriglitazone were determined in a phase 1 study in male healthy volunteers comprising a single ascending dose (SAD) and a multiple ascending dose (MAD) at oral doses of 30, 90, and 270 mg and 135 and 270 mg, respectively. Leriglitazone was rapidly absorbed with no food effect on overall exposure and showed a linear PK profile with dose‐exposure correlation. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was developed for leriglitazone based on phase 1 data (SAD part) and incorporated CYP3A4 (fmCYP3A4 = 24%) and CYP2C8‐mediated (fmCYP2C8 = 45%) metabolism, as well as biliary clearance (feBIL = 19.5%) derived from in vitro data, and was verified by comparing the observed versus predicted concentration‐time profiles from the MAD part. The PBPK model was prospectively applied to predict the starting pediatric doses and was preliminarily verified with data from five pediatric patients.
X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD), a potentially fatal neurometabolic disorder with no effective pharmacological treatment, is characterized by clinical manifestations ranging from progressive ...spinal cord axonopathy adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) to severe demyelination and neuroinflammation (cerebral ALD-cALD), for which molecular mechanisms are not well known. Leriglitazone is a recently developed brain penetrant full PPARγ agonist that could modulate multiple biological pathways relevant for neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases, and particularly for X-ALD. We found that leriglitazone decreased oxidative stress, increased adenosine 5'-triphosphate concentration, and exerted neuroprotective effects in primary rodent neurons and astrocytes after very long chain fatty acid-induced toxicity simulating X-ALD. In addition, leriglitazone improved motor function; restored markers of oxidative stress, mitochondrial function, and inflammation in spinal cord tissues from AMN mouse models; and decreased the neurological disability in the EAE neuroinflammatory mouse model. X-ALD monocyte-derived patient macrophages treated with leriglitazone were less skewed toward an inflammatory phenotype, and the adhesion of human X-ALD monocytes to brain endothelial cells decreased after treatment, suggesting the potential of leriglitazone to prevent the progression to pathologically disrupted blood-brain barrier. Leriglitazone increased myelin debris clearance in vitro and increased myelination and oligodendrocyte survival in demyelination-remyelination in vivo models, thus promoting remyelination. Last, leriglitazone was clinically tested in a phase 1 study showing central nervous system target engagement (adiponectin increase) and changes on inflammatory biomarkers in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. The results of our study support the use of leriglitazone in X-ALD and, more generally, in other neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions.
Adult patients with adrenoleukodystrophy have a poor prognosis owing to development of adrenomyeloneuropathy. Additionally, a large proportion of patients with adrenomyeloneuropathy develop ...life-threatening progressive cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy. Leriglitazone is a novel selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonist that regulates expression of key genes that contribute to neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative processes implicated in adrenoleukodystrophy disease progression. We aimed to assess the effect of leriglitazone on clinical, imaging, and biochemical markers of disease progression in adults with adrenomyeloneuropathy.
ADVANCE was a 96-week, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2–3 trial done at ten hospitals in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the USA. Ambulatory men aged 18–65 years with adrenomyeloneuropathy without gadolinium enhancing lesions suggestive of progressive cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy were randomly assigned (2:1 without stratification) to receive daily oral suspensions of leriglitazone (150 mg starting dose; between baseline and week 12, doses were increased or decreased to achieve plasma concentrations of 200 μg·h/mL SD 20%) or placebo by means of an interactive response system and a computer-generated sequence. Investigators and patients were masked to group assignment. The primary efficacy endpoint was change from baseline in the Six-Minute Walk Test distance at week 96, analysed in the full-analysis set by means of a mixed model for repeated measures with restricted maximum likelihood and baseline value as a covariate. Adverse events were also assessed in the full-analysis set. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03231878; the primary study is complete; patients had the option to continue treatment in an open-label extension, which is ongoing.
Between Dec 8, 2017, and Oct 16, 2018, of 136 patients screened, 116 were randomly assigned; 62 81% of 77 patients receiving leriglitazone and 34 87% of 39 receiving placebo completed treatment. There was no between-group difference in the primary endpoint (mean SD change from baseline leriglitazone: –27·7 41·4 m; placebo: –30·3 60·5 m; least-squares mean difference –1·2 m; 95% CI –22·6 to 20·2; p=0·91). The most common treatment emergent adverse events in both the leriglitazone and placebo groups were weight gain (54 70% of 77 vs nine 23% of 39 patients, respectively) and peripheral oedema (49 64% of 77 vs seven 18% of 39). There were no deaths. Serious treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 14 (18%) of 77 patients receiving leriglitazone and ten (26%) of 39 patients receiving placebo. The most common serious treatment emergent adverse event, clinically progressive cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, occurred in six 5% of 116 patients, all of whom were in the placebo group.
The primary endpoint was not met, but leriglitazone was generally well tolerated and rates of adverse events were in line with the expected safety profile for this drug class. The finding that cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, a life-threatening event for patients with adrenomyeloneuropathy, occurred only in patients in the placebo group supports further investigation of whether leriglitazone might slow the progression of cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy.
Minoryx Therapeutics.
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Provider: - Institution: - Data provided by Europeana Collections- All metadata published by Europeana are available free of restriction under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain ...Dedication. However, Europeana requests that you actively acknowledge and give attribution to all metadata sources including Europeana
•Evaluation of a new analytical method for Phenylacetylglutamine in urine.•Biomarker of monitoring and adherence to the treatment in urea cycle disorders.•Clinical data are correlated to ...Phenylacetylglutamine for the first time in Europe.•The use of spot urines is easier to send for analysis due to its stability.
Salts of phenylacetic acid (PAA) and phenylbutyric acid (PBA) have been used for nitrogen elimination as a treatment for hyperammonaemia caused by urea cycle disorders (UCD). A new analytical method for PBA measurement in urine which helps to evaluate the drug adherence has been implemented.
Urine specimens from UCD patients receiving PBA were analysed by tandem mass spectrometry to measure urine phenylacetylglutamine (PAGln). Some clinical and biochemical data for each patient were collected.
Our study included 87 samples from 40 UCD patients. The PAGln levels did not correlate with height, weight or age. However, the PAGln values showed correlation with PBA dose (r = 0.383, P = 0.015). Plasma glutamine and ammonia levels presented a positive correlation (r = 0.537, P < 0.001). The stability for PAGln in urine was determined at different storage temperatures.
We have developed a simple method for the determination of PAGln in urine, which acts as useful biomarker of effective drug delivery. PAGln in urine is stable at room temperature at least for 15 days, and for several months when frozen at -20 °C. This procedure is useful for the optimization and monitorization of the drug dose allowing the use of spot urine samples.