Release Details
Voyager Therapeutics Receives FDA Guidance on Development Path for VY-AADC for Parkinson’s Disease and Provides Clinical Update
Voyager continues to plan to submit a BLA for VY-AADC based on its pivotal program and Type C meeting feedback
Positive interim results with VY-AADC from the Phase 1 posterior trajectory trial supports the surgical approach and dose selection for the pivotal program
In addition, Voyager today announced positive interim results from a Phase 1 posterior trajectory trial that achieved enhanced coverage of the putamen, reduced surgical times, and improvements in patients’ motor function at six months that were consistent with improvements achieved from patients in Cohorts 2 and 3 at the same time point in Voyager’s Phase 1b trial with VY-AADC. As a result, Voyager has determined that the posterior approach will continue to serve as the preferred surgical route of administration and that the pivotal program will use a dose concentration of VY-AADC between those used in Cohorts 2 and 3 from the Phase 1b trial.
“We are very pleased with feedback from the
“Our VY-AADC program is progressing nicely and our plans are now further informed by this Type C regulatory feedback,” said
Highlights from Type C meeting feedback from
Voyager recently submitted questions to the
The
Preliminary data from the Phase 1 posterior trajectory trial and data from the prior Phase 1b trial with VY-AADC supports the surgical approach and dose selection for the pivotal program for Parkinson’s disease
Investigators successfully dosed eight patients with VY-AADC in a Phase 1 trial in patients with Parkinson’s disease exploring the posterior (i.e., back of the head) infusion trajectory of VY-AADC and using the same dose concentration to patients in Cohort 3 from the Phase 1b trial. The posterior trajectory better aligns the infusion of VY-AADC with the anatomical structure of the putamen. As previously reported from all eight patients, this trajectory resulted in a greater average coverage of the putamen (approximately 50%) and reduced the total procedure time by two to three hours compared to Cohorts 1, 2 and 3 from the Phase 1b trial that employed a transfrontal, or top of the head, delivery approach into the putamen. In all eight patients, treatment with VY-AADC has been well-tolerated and no serious adverse events have been reported to date.
Today’s update includes interim biomarker and motor function data from four of eight patients who have completed their motor function assessments at six months. On average, patient characteristics at baseline in this trial were consistent with patients in the Phase 1b trial, namely, patients on average were 57 years of age with a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis for an average of nine years and all were candidates for surgical intervention including deep-brain stimulation due to disabling motor complications despite treatment with optimal anti-Parkinsonian medication.
From baseline to six months, treatment with VY-AADC increased AADC enzyme activity in the putamen as measured by positron emission tomography (PET) using [18F] fluorodopa (or 18F-DOPA), which reflects the capacity of neurons in the brain to convert levodopa to dopamine. The increase in AADC enzyme activity in this trial was consistent with increases in AADC enzyme activity observed from patients in Cohort 3 from the Phase 1b trial.
Treatment with VY-AADC improved patients’ motor function from baseline to six months across multiple assessments in a clinically-meaningful manner and consistent with results from Cohorts 2 and 3 from the Phase 1b trial during the same period of time. These assessments include patient self-reported diaries, both on- and off-times and diary on-time without troublesome dyskinesia, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scales, and activities of daily living measures. In addition, improvements in patients’ motor function using the posterior trajectory approach were observed with significant reductions in patients’ oral levodopa and equivalent medications, similar to results observed from Cohorts 2 and 3 from the Phase 1b trial. Voyager plans to present data from the full cohort of eight patients from the Phase 1 posterior trajectory trial at future scientific and medical conferences.
Based on the safety, coverage of the putamen, PET imaging data, and reduced surgical times from the eight patients treated in this trial, the posterior approach will serve as the preferred infusion trajectory for the Phase 2 and 3 trials. In addition, based on results from the 15 patients treated in Cohorts 1, 2 and 3 from the Phase 1b trial and the eight patients dosed in the Phase 1 posterior trajectory trial including the four of eight patients who have completed their motor function assessments at six months, Voyager has chosen a dose concentration of VY-AADC for the pivotal program that is between the dose concentrations of Cohorts 2 and 3 from the Phase 1b trial.
Twenty-four clinical trial sites (including neurosurgical and neurology patient referral sites) have been selected for participation in the Phase 2 trial with institutional review board submission and site activation underway. During the remainder of the year, Voyager plans to provide updates as to the enrollment status of this trial.
For more information about Voyager’s Phase 2 clinical trial with its gene therapy program VY-AADC for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, please use the following link:
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=+NCT03562494&cntry=&state=&city=&dist
For additional information regarding this Phase 2 clinical trial, please email Voyager at: clinicaltrials@vygr.com.
About Parkinson’s Disease and VY-AADC
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive and debilitating neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately 1,000,000 people in the U.S.1 and seven to 10 million people worldwide2. While the underlying cause of Parkinson’s disease in most patients is unknown, the motor symptoms of the disease arise from a loss of neurons in the midbrain that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. Declining levels of dopamine in this region of the brain, the putamen, leads to the motor symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease including tremors, slow movement or loss of movement, rigidity, and postural instability. Motor symptoms during the advanced stages of the disease include falling, gait freezing, and difficulty with speech and swallowing, with patients often requiring the daily assistance of a caregiver.
There are currently no therapies that effectively slow or reverse the progression of Parkinson’s disease. Levodopa remains the standard of care treatment, with its beneficial effects on symptom control having been discovered over 40 years ago3. Patients are generally well-controlled with oral levodopa in the early stages of the disease but become less responsive to treatment as the disease progresses. Patients experience longer periods of reduced mobility and stiffness termed off-time, or the time when medication is no longer providing benefit, and shorter periods of on-time when their medication is effective.
The progressive motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are largely due to the death of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra, a part of the midbrain that converts levodopa to dopamine, in a single step catalyzed by the enzyme AADC. Neurons in the substantia nigra release dopamine into the putamen where the receptors for dopamine reside. In Parkinson’s disease, neurons in the substantia nigra degenerate and the enzyme AADC is markedly reduced in the putamen, which limits the brain’s ability to convert oral levodopa to dopamine4. The intrinsic neurons in the putamen, however, do not degenerate in Parkinson’s disease5,6. VY-AADC, comprised of the adeno-associated virus-2 capsid and a cytomegalovirus promoter to drive AADC transgene expression, is designed to deliver the AADC gene directly into neurons of the putamen where dopamine receptors are located, bypassing the substantia nigra neurons and enabling the neurons of the putamen to express the AADC enzyme to convert levodopa into dopamine. The approach with VY-AADC, therefore, has the potential to durably enhance the conversion of levodopa to dopamine and provide clinically meaningful improvements by restoring motor function in patients and improving symptoms following a single administration.
The
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. The use of words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “undoubtedly,” “project,” “intend,” “future,” “potential,” or “continue,” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For example, all statements Voyager makes regarding the initiation, timing, progress and reporting of results of its preclinical programs and clinical trials and its research and development programs, its ability to advance its AAV-based gene therapies into, and successfully initiate, enroll and complete, clinical trials, the potential clinical utility of its product candidates, its ability to continue to develop its gene therapy platform, its ability to develop manufacturing capability for its products and successfully transition its manufacturing process, its ability to perform under existing collaborations with, among others, Sanofi Genzyme and
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1 Willis et al, Neuroepidemiology.2010;34:143–151
2www.pdf.org/en/parkinson_statistics
3 Poewe W, et al, Clinical Interventions in Aging.2010;5:229-238.
4 Lloyd, J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1975;195:453-464, Nagatsu, J Neural Transm Suppl.2007
5 Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2012;2:a009258
6 Braak et al, Cell Tissue Res.2004;318:121-134
Investor Relations:Matt Osborne Vice President of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications 857-259-5353 mosborne@vygr.com Media:Julie Normart W2O Group +1 (415) 946-1087 jnormart@w2ogroup.com