Tigercat and Velocity Pharmaceutical announce submission of IND application to FDA for VPD-737

Velocity Pharmaceutical Development, LLC ("VPD") and Tigercat Pharma, Inc., ("Tigercat") announced today the submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for VPD-737 for the treatment of chronic pruritus.

Tigercat licensed worldwide rights to VPD-737 (Serlopitant), an NK-1 receptor antagonist, from Merck (Essex Chemie) in 2012.  Tigercat intends to develop VPD-737 through clinical proof of concept for the treatment of chronic pruritus, defined as itch lasting for more than 6 weeks. This condition results in more than one million doctor visits per year in the US. Chronic pruritus is associated with significant morbidity and can result in serious disruption of sleep and other activities of daily living.

"Preclinical studies and compelling clinical evidence about the use of NK-1 receptor antagonists led us to believe that treatment with VPD-737 may significantly and rapidly reduce pruritus associated with a variety of conditions" said David Collier, CEO of VPD. "We believe this drug has the potential to address a major underappreciated medical need."

Jean Tang M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Dermatology at Stanford University School of Medicine said "Chronic itch is a largely underserved indication with few effective treatments.  The existing drugs to treat chronic itch are at best only modestly effective and in addition, they are poorly tolerated. Thus we are very excited to see VPD-737 approaching clinical testing."