Jos L J van der Velden, Ying Ye, James D Nolin, Sidra M Hoffman, David G Chapman, Karolyn G Lahue, Sarah Abdalla, Peng Chen, Yong Liu, Brydon Bennett, Nasreen Khalil, Donna Sutherland, William Smith, Gerald Horan, Mahmoud Assaf, Zebulun Horowitz, Rajesh Chopra, Randall M Stevens, Maria Palmisano, Yvonne M W Janssen-Heininger, Peter H Schafer
BACKGROUND: Lung remodeling and pulmonary fibrosis are serious, life-threatening conditions resulting from diseases such as chronic severe asthma and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Preclinical evidence suggests that JNK enzyme function is required for key steps in the pulmonary fibrotic process. However, a selective JNK inhibitor has not been investigated in translational models of lung fibrosis with clinically relevant biomarkers, or in IPF patients. METHODS: The JNK inhibitor CC-930 was evaluated in the house dust mite-induced fibrotic airway mouse model, in a phase I healthy volunteer pharmacodynamic study, and subsequently in a phase II multicenter study of mild/moderate IPF (n = 28), with a 4-week, placebo-controlled, double-blind, sequential ascending-dose period (50 mg QD, 100 mg QD, 100 mg BID) and a 52-week open-label treatment-extension period...
December 2016: Clinical and Translational Medicine