Xigen’s innovative JNK inhibitor, Brimapitide, delivers positive Phase II results in inflammatory eye disease

The company's long-acting therapeutic peptides are designed to allow the efficient delivery of the active element to intracellular targets.

Xigen’s innovative technology platform enables the design and synthesis of long-acting therapeutic peptides with a very high metabolic stability. The peptides, including the lead compound Brimapitide (XG-102), are designed to allow the efficient delivery of the active element to intracellular targets. In the case of Brimapitide this means the ability to selectively reach and inhibit c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase. Ophthalmology was chosen as a gateway to the treatment of more complex inflammatory diseases.

The Phase II study of 145 patients was designed as a controlled, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group study to assess the efficacy and safety of a single sub-conjunctival injection of Brimapitide (XG-102) in comparison with repeated administration of dexamethasone eye drops in post-surgical intraocular inflammation. The study took place in France in six referral centers in the field of ophthalmology in Paris, Grenoble, Dijon, Nancy, and Lyon. The overall development of Xigen’s lead product was donr by Solid Drug Development, a specialized firm based in Geneva.

Brimapitide (XG-102) is a first in class innovative and well-tolerated molecule. Phase I and Phase Ib clinical studies conducted in Switzerland and France included 24 healthy volunteers and 20 patients with post traumatic or postoperative intraocular inflammation respectively. Both clinical studies results confirmed the safety and good tolerability of the compound, which has an excellent profile when administered directly into the eye.

The multi-center Phase II study results show the non-inferiority of a single sub-conjunctival injection of Brimapitide (XG-102) at the end of surgery compared to dexamethasone administered four times a day for 21 days.

Xigen’s chairman, Mikhail Sazonov, said: “These excellent results from our multi-center Phase II trial of Brimapitide in ocular surgery, [...] successfully demonstrate the power and potential of Xigen’s novel therapeutic peptides to efficiently deliver active elements to intracellular targets in inflammatory diseases.“