IFRX - have you seen a good description of their planned ph2? E.g. Against ada or placebo, and the number/size/treatment of the different arms? (The answers they gave in the Leerink cc imply that they will explore every other week dosing, but beyond that...?)
Thanks for the comments. I think the CCXI argument is they hit C5aR specifically (whereas IFRX hits C5a more broadly upstream) but certainly would be important to know how well CCXI's avacopan truly blocks C5aR.
I listened to IFRX Leerink presentation and thought there were some good points:
1. IFRX said only two other companies went into clinic behind IFRX targeting C5a specifically (ALXN and AZN/Medimmune). Noted that ALXN discontinued their own anti-C5a antibody, 107, after Phase 2 data recently. AZN/Medimmune discontinued several years ago after Phase 1 data. It would seem that IFRX is by far the leader in going after C5a but it would also be important to know why these others discontinued their drugs. Was it due to a drug-specific issue or is there read-through to IFRX drug as some class effect of broadly targeting C5a (as opposed to C5aR more specifically)?
2. Said they plan to move into oncology space soon based on promising approach. Not sure if they are planning on something similar to what IPH.PA is doing (https://www.innate-pharma.com/en/pipeline/iph5401-first-class-anti-c5ar-mab ) though IPH is doing similar to CCXI in going specifically after C5aR.
3. Did seem to at least provide some independent validation of the CCXI data in AAV. But, they claim their drug as an IV (vs. avacopan being an oral drug) could be better because it could act much quicker and provide quicker induction of remission compared to SoC. They also note that by blocking C5a and not its receptors it may allow the IFRX drug to avoid safety concerns arising from indirect off-target effects. I wonder if they are referring to C5L2 specifically here and not also C5aR (again avacopan only hits the latter according to CCXI). I would also want to better understand again why in hitting C5a upstream that the IFRX drug wouldn't have any impact on C5aR or C5L2 directly downstream.
what is important is the reduction in neutrophil levels driven by each drug and the biological role of that second receptor. Some studies have indicated that C5R2 (aka C5L2) is needed to drive repair and is required to recover from anaphylactic/septic shock. Also, many of these kidney diseases have protein deposits that are damaging. There are reports that Soliris actually increases these deposits as the antibody gets gummed up in the mess. For that reason a small molecule that binds to receptors on neutrophils may have an advantage.
the IC50 for avacopan is 0.2 nM and the IC50 for INFX's drug is 0.1 nM. A difference without a distinction.