Nyrada (ASX:NYR) has announced the selection of a new version of its brain injury candidate (NYR-BI01) to be taken forward into its collaboration studies with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR).
Nyrada is a preclinical stage, drug development company specialising in novel small molecule drugs to treat cardiovascular and neurological diseases.
The company said NYR-BI01 is a more potent and drug-like version of its predecessor, NYX-1010. It said NYR-BI01 showed high potency in a biological assay and "impressive drug-like characteristic"s in a pharmacokinetic (PK) study.
In the PK study, NYR-BI01 was administered to uninjured animals via continuous intravenous (IV) infusion at two doses for 72 hours to assess blood concentrations and brain penetration.
Nyrada CEO James Bonnar said, “Crossing the blood-brain-barrier at above therapeutic levels with a newly improved and highly potent drug candidate, means our drug can reach the area of the brain damaged by traumatic brain injury.
"This focus on optimising our drug in preclinical studies enables us to take the best candidate into our studies with WRAIR and eventually into human clinical trials, giving us the best chance of success in Phase I.”
The company said drug levels in the brain were significantly higher than those required to deliver a therapeutic effect and NYR-BI01 was well-tolerated throughout the 72-hour study. It said the WRAIR study will commence in the second half of 2021 with results expected in the fourth quarter.