Jaguar Health Inc (NASDAQ:JAGX) has announced that it presented its findings from a preclinical trial involving neratinib (Nerlynx) and crofelemer (Mytesi) during a virtual meeting hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research.
Jaguar Health presented the pre-clinical trial results involving the drug combo to the American Association for Cancer Research at its annual meeting, with this year’s meeting held virtually July 22. Mytesi is an antidiarrheal drug that is usually indicated for HIV/AIDS patients suffering from non-infectious diarrhea while on ARVs.
Nerlynx is a pan-HER tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) developed by Puma Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ: PBYI). It is usually prescribed to early-stage HER2 positive breast cancer patients. The preclinical study was conducted on dogs. The company aims to evaluate the drug combination as a potentially viable therapy for cancer patients suffering from watery diarrhea while being treated with targeted cancer therapy.
“This 28-day preclinical pharmacological study in healthy female dogs was designed to evaluate the scientific rationale for the use of crofelemer in reducing the severity and incidence of diarrhea,” stated Dr. Michael Guy, the President of preclinical and nonclinical studies at Jaguar Health.
The findings from the preclinical study are important in combatting treatment-related diarrhea.
Dr. Guy stated that the preclinical trial particularly targets diarrhea that is associated with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. He also pointed out that the results showed that the diarrhea incidence and severity reduced by 30% in subjects treated with crofelemer and neratinib. The group of dogs treated with Crofelemer demonstrated significant improvements compared to those treated with neratinib.
Jaguar Health believes that the preclinical trial findings are a step forward, especially for patients who suffer from cancer therapy-related diarrhea (CTD). This is usually the case for patients treated with TKIs, resulting in the need for them to go off the treatment for some time to provide relief from the CTD. Jaguar’s CEO Lisa Conte also added that the ongoing development of Crofelemer is vital because it has the potential to help patients to tolerate CTD. She believes that supportive care is important in helping patients to go through treatments with side effects.
