Company targets clinical trial of antifibrotic drug in 2013
Japan's leading diversified materials manufacturer, Nitto Denko Corporation (TOKYO:6988)(ISIN:JP3684000007), today announced that a basic patent regarding the company's epoch-making antifibrotic therapy has been successfully registered in the USA. Nitto Denko has been developing antifibrotic drugs in collaboration with Professor Yoshiro Niitsu at Sapporo Medical University since 2008, and has already been granted this patent in Japan, China and Australia.
This patent covers various DDS (Drug Delivery Systems) that includes antifibrotic drugs, coupled with targeting agents for the cells that are responsible for disease. This patent should lead to the world's first complete cure of organ fibrosis, which is expected to give a significant boost to the value of Nitto Denko's patent portfolio.
Recently Nitto
Denko has developed new drug and drug delivery materials which
satisfy both efficacy and safety perspectives. Nitto
Denko plans practical applications firstly for a liver cirrhosis
drug, by applying an IND (Investigational New Drug) to the US FDA (Food
and Drug Administration) by the end of 2012, followed by the initiation
of clinical trial studies in 2013.
Hereafter, Nitto
Denko aims to expand efforts and achieve significant progress in
order to develop new drugs for inveterate diseases including fibrosis.
Molecular targeting DDS is for delivering therapeutic agents directly and specifically to the cells that cause diseases. In the future it is anticipated that highly efficacious treatments with less side-effects for the diseases would be available that is still difficult to treat now. The antifibrotic therapy Nitto Denko is currently developing was discovered by Prof. Yoshiro Niitsu and his group in Sapporo Medical University, then combined with Nitto Denko's new DDS technologies. Nitto Denko expects that this treatment can be applied to various organ fibrosis including liver cirrhosis and other intractable diseases.
Future Plan
Currently, non-clinical studies are being
conducted and Nitto Denko aims to submit an IND application in December
2012, followed by initiation of clinical study phase-1 in USA in 2013.
Then, clinical trial phase-2a is planned to be completed in 2015. From
phase-2b, we may potentially collaborate with other partners with the
aim of launching a new drug in 2018 or after.
About Nitto Denko
Founded in 1918, Nitto
Denko is Japan's leading diversified materials manufacturer offering
over 13,000 high-value-added products to the global market. Nitto
Denko's strength lies in its flexibility to add diverse functionalities
to sheets, films and other materials, fully utilizing its core
technologies such as polymer synthesis, adhesion and coating. The Nitto
Denko group's wide spectrum of specialities include optical films for
liquid crystal displays, automotive materials, reverse osmosis membranes
for seawater desalination, transdermal drug delivery systems, and much
more. Nitto
Denko is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). Total net sales
in fiscal year 2010 amounted to US$7.7 billion. The company consists of
107 subsidiaries across the globe and employs over 33,000 people.
Contacts:
Nitto Denko Corporation
Kazuhito Kouno, Rie Miura, +81-6-6452-2215
Corporate
Communications Dept.
communication_group@nitto.co.jp
Fax:
+81-6-6452-3316
