DURECT reports successful completion of DUR-928 Phase 1 study for acute use indications

DURECT Corporation (Nasdaq: DRRX) today announced the successful completion of a Phase 1 clinical trial with an injectable formulation of DUR-928 intended for acute use indications. DUR-928 is an endogenous, small-molecule, new chemical entity (NCE), which may have broad applicability in metabolic diseases such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and in acute organ injuries such as acute kidney injury (AKI).

"It's nice to cap off a solid year of progress in 2015 by reporting the successful conclusion of this Phase 1 study of DUR-928 for acute use indications," said James E. Brown, President and CEO of DURECT. "During 2015 more than 75 healthy volunteers received DUR-928 given either orally or through injection at varying doses in excess of endogenous levels, with no treatment related adverse events reported. Building on our learnings from 8 animal models that were previously reported, we now look forward to beginning patient studies in our chronic metabolic and acute use programs in 2016."

Phase 1 Injectable Study

The Phase 1 trial of DUR-928 began as a single-site, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, single-ascending-dose study that evaluated the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of 4 doses DUR-928 when administered through an intramuscular injection. The 24-subject study evaluated DUR-928 in four cohorts of healthy volunteers receiving DUR-928 (n = 16 on drug, 8 on placebo) at escalating doses that resulted in peak plasma concentrations over 100 fold higher than endogenous levels. DUR-928 was well-tolerated at all dose levels, with no treatment-related adverse events reported and plasma levels were dose proportional.

Before the highest dose was added to the single-ascending-dose study, we proceeded to a multi-dose cohort including 10 healthy volunteers, in which study participants received DUR-928 for 5 consecutive days (n = 8 on drug, 2 on placebo) with what at the time was our highest dose in the prior study. No treatment related adverse events were reported, no subjects withdrew from the study, no accumulation in plasma concentrations were observed with repeat dosing, and the pain scores and injection site reactions were minimal.

Future Development Plans

DURECT is now positioned to commence patient trials in 2016 with DUR-928 and is currently finalizing protocols with the assistance of our scientific consultants. We plan to conduct the first two such studies in Australia. We will be providing more detail on these studies in the near future.