Verona Pharma: “A successful year with significant progress”

Verona Pharma plc, the drug development company focused on first-in-class medicines to treat respiratory diseases, has provided a summary review of its 2015 performance.

As said in the company’s summary published on Monday, its primary goals in 2015 were centred around initiating and completing a series of clinical trials on its drug candidate, RPL554, using the Company’s new proprietary nebulised suspension formulation. RPL554 is a novel inhaled PDE3/PDE4 inhibitor with both bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory properties, currently in development as a nebulised treatment for acute exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients in a hospital or home-care setting.

Commenting on progress, CEO Jan-Anders Karlsson said:

“At the time of our 2014 fund raise we laid out our plans for further development of RPL554, initially to address severe COPD. Based on the strength of the emerging clinical data, we decided in early 2015 to accelerate this development plan.

“To date almost 300 subjects have been included in clinical trials with RPL554. Collectively these data consistently highlight that the drug is an effective bronchodilator and has a broad anti-inflammatory profile. Importantly, it is well-tolerated over a wide dose range and adverse events are similar to those in subjects treated with placebo.

“Having made marked clinical progress with RPL554, we are currently considering all options for further funding of our development programmes. As part of this process, and as previously stated, the Company recognises that the right commercial partner could bring significant value to the development of RPL554 for chronic maintenance treatment in COPD and perhaps asthma.  Verona Pharma therefore continues to be involved in business development discussions around the RPL554 programme.“