Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Alba Therapeutics & Larazotide Acetate Update

I have written previously about the Celiac Disease drug therapies that are currently under development around the world. Alba Therapeutics is one company that is doing research and development with a drug called larazotide acetate. Here is an update from Alba posted yesterday on the PRNewsWire.
Alba Therapeutics Corporation announced today it will initiate further clinical studies for patients diagnosed with celiac disease with their lead compound, larazotide acetate. "Our most recent Phase IIb study, the largest trial with an investigational medication conducted in patients with celiac disease, was a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, dose ranging, multicenter study to determine the safety, tolerance and efficacy of larazotide acetate in 184 adults with controlled celiac disease during a gluten challenge. The data are promising and will be publicly presented at upcoming scientific meetings this spring," said Bruce Peacock, CEO of Alba Therapeutics. "Recently, Alba restructured to concentrate its efforts on advancing the clinical program for larazotide acetate, and we are now moving forward with initiating our next clinical trial in patients with celiac disease."
I had written earlier about the "restructuring" (layoffs) at Alba and have since been wondering what the status was at the company. It appears as if the company is moving forward, solely focused on using larazotide acetate as a treatment for Celiac Disease. Just as a side note - this drug and all the others I have written about are designed to be used in conjunction with the lifelong Gluten Free Diet. Their goal is to eliminate the damage done by unintentional Gluten exposure - not to allow the person to eat as much Gluten as they would like and then just pop a pill afterward.

Alba Contact Information
Contact: Wendy Perrow, MBA
Phone: 410-878-9850
E-mail: info@albatherapeutics.com
Web site: http://www.albatherapeutics.com

1 comments:

Linda said...

It's good to hear they are still moving forward with it. I was part of one of the first trials. I got sick so I must have had a placebo :(.
I never expected it to replace a gluten free diet, but I did hope it could be used on occasion to indulge in a little gluten.

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