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- Clinical biopharma company Dimerix (DXB) has seen positive progress with its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment
- OPD is a lung disease which causes obstructed airflow from the lungs, making it difficult to breathe
- At present, it is the fourth leading cause of death in the world
- While there are treatments to improve the symptoms brought on by the disease, there is no way to slow the progression of the condition or cure it
- Crucially, treatment with Dimerix’s DMX-700 has been shown to inhibit signalling of key receptors associated with COPD
- Following this update, DMX-700’s development plan will continue to progress towards the clinical phase
- In addition, Dimerix has lodged a PCT patent application for the treatment, amelioration or prevention of COPD with DMX-700
- On the market this morning, Dimerix is up 8.47 per cent and is trading 32 cents per share
Clinical biopharma company Dimerix (DXB) has seen positive progress with its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment.
COPD is a lung disease that caused obstructed airflow from the lungs making it difficult to breathe and is the fourth leading cause of death in the world. The common cause of COPD is exposure to tobacco smoke (active or secondary smoke), air pollution, occupational dust and fumes and long-term asthma.
There are treatments to improve the symptoms of the disease but there is currently no way to slow the progression of the condition or cure it.
But Dimerix’s DMX-700 treatment has shown it can block the Interleukin 8 receptor beta (also known as CXCR2) and angiotensin II receptor type one (AT1R) — key receptors associated with COPD.
“Novel findings on molecular pharmacology profiling, using a number of techniques including using Receptor-HIT, has demonstrated that the DMX-700 drug candidate abolished receptor signalling involved in neutrophil recruitment,” the company explained.
Interleukin 8 is produced by epithelial cells, airway smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells. In chronicle inflammatory diseases, including COPD, this is expressed at elevated levels, which leads to abnormal amounts of neutrophils that causes damage to the lung tissue.
Previous studies have shown that inhibiting CXCR2 signalling reduced neutrophil movement and therefore reduces mucus production and inflammation in COPD.
Other companies have tried to investigate CXCR2 inhibitors in the treatment of COPD, but have been disappointed to date.
However, Dimerix, using its Receptor-HIT platform, ahs identified the heteromer nature of CXCR with AT1R and had discovered that “simultaneous inhibition of both receptors may significantly improve treatment efficacy for patients with COPD.”
Additionally, UWA Professor Kevin Pfleger will present some of the technical DMX-700 data on the CXCR and AT1R heteromer interaction tomorrow (October 8) at the leading global industry conference, Drug Discovery Digital.
Studies have been conducted at The University of Western Australia and by Excellerate Bioscience laboratories in the U.K.
The DMX-700 development plan will continue to progress towards the clinical phase.
Dimerix has now lodged a PCT patent application for the treatment, amelioration or prevention of COPD with DMX-700.
On the market this morning, Dimerix is up 8.47 per cent and is trading 32 cents per share at 11:12 am AEDT.
