Palatin has put together an exceptionally intricate understanding of the factors which drive agonism via a rational drug design model used to get at key, proprietary small molecule agonist, peptide, and peptide mimetic compounds with tremendous therapeutic upside. The company is currently pushing hard in their biopharma development programs, which are largely focused on molecules that can successfully regulate melanocortin and natriuretic peptide receptor activity.
This emphasis on highly-targeted and receptor-specific solutions has led to several important product fronts, with the flagship product, Bremelanotide (currently in advanced-stage clinical development), being a treatment aimed at female sexual dysfunction (FSD). Bremelanotide is essentially a peptide melanocortin receptor agonist and the successful top-line results from the most recent (Nov 8, 2012) Phase 2B clinical trial are a rousing victory for PTN. With Phase 2B clearly showing statistically significant achievement of the primary and several key secondary endpoints, as markedly improved overall sexual function and reduction in stress related to sexual dysfunction both showed solid improvements, Bremelanotide is looking great for a product that was also very well tolerated.
Such recent positive safety and efficacy results for the company’s flagship product underscores development pipeline competencies, and PTN’s other leading drug candidates, most of which are melanocortin receptor-based compounds, benefit directly from the strength of those core tech competencies. The company currently has multiple classes of compounds in various stages of collaborative preclinical testing with global, innovation-driven biopharma powerhouse AstraZeneca, with a broad range of collaboration compounds for the treatment of obesity being chief among them. Also among the drug candidates under development which benefit from the core technology pipeline are indications for cardiovascular diseases and erectile dysfunction, as well as inflammatory and pulmonary diseases.
Computer-assisted drug design and deep experimental results modeling, backed up by PTN’s extensive in-house peptide and small molecule libraries, all reinforced by conformational analysis in solution using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, has truly brought forth some amazing agonist insights for PTN. Something like their peptide mimetic natriuretic peptide receptor An agonist, PL-3994, which shows tremendous potential in cardiovascular and pulmonary disease (congestive heart failure and difficult-to-control hypertension), is a hallmark of the broad anti-inflammatory use of such peptide technology; and the company is even developing an asthma-related PL-3994 indication that could be huge on its own.
The commercial potential addressed by the various avenues of clinical development PTN is currently engaged in is sweetened by the fact that in most cases the market is either underserved or flatly unmet altogether by any compelling alternative. The license agreement with AstraZeneca, who remains steadfastly committed to developing melanocortin agonists for the treatment of obesity, provides clear outlines to the company’s marketing collaboration strategy. The commercial muscle provided by such industry leaders as AstraZeneca allows PTN to cap out the profit potential of its successes while deterministically offsetting the ricks/costs associated with such commercialization.
The company has a rich array of proprietary technologies created for its drug development efforts and one such technology, a novel amino acid mimetics approach that was used in PL-3994, perfectly mirrors the receptor-binding functions of naturally-occurring amino acids while adding functional, physiochemical, and structural benefits to the mix. This patent-pending amino acid mimetic technology is just one example of the kind of advanced work being done by PTN and this particular technology’s potential use across a whole spectrum of peptide-based compounds alone demands to be looked at in greater detail.
More information on Palatin Technologies, visit www.Palatin.com
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