A Davis-based company founded by UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock has received the green light to begin Phase 1 clinical trials to test a non-narcotic drug candidate developed in the Hammock lab to alleviate chronic pain.
EicOsis LLC, a pharmaceutical startup, has received Investigational New Drug (IND) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to test the drug candidate, EC5026. Clinical trials are expected to begin this year.
"EicOsis is developing a new class of oral non-narcotic analgesics based on inhibition of the soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) enzyme," said EicOsis chief executive officer Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. UC Davis has licensed EC5026 exclusively to EicOsis.
EC5026 (BPN-19186) is described as a first-in-class, small molecule that potently inhibits soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH). "It is key regulatory enzyme involved in the metabolism of membrane fatty acids," Hammock said. "Inhibition of sEH treats pain by stabilizing natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory mediators."
The sEH inhibitors developed by EicOsis have already shown to be effective for inflammatory and neuropathic pain in the rodents, horses, dogs and cats, with no apparent adverse or addictive reactions.
“Chronic pain management is a serious public health crisis with few options available that provide effective relief free of life-threatening safety concerns including abuse,” said UC Davis physician Scott Fishman, the Fullerton Endowed Chair in the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, and professor and director of the Center for Advancing Pain Relief at the UC Davis School of Medicine. “The medical community is continually seeking effective pain management strategies. EicOsis's new compound is a novel pharmacological approach for treating pain, and I remain optimistic for its success.”
Approximately 50 million Americans (20 percent of the population) suffer from chronic pain, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The annual economic toll is $560 billion, encompassing direct medical expenses, lost productivity, and disability claims. Pain research is now one of the top priorities of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
EicOsis advancement of EC5026 into clinical trials has been funded as part of the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network (BPN) of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research. The BPN is a collaboration of NIH Institutes and Centers that supports innovative research on the nervous system with the goal of developing new neurotherapeutic drugs.
“There is clear unmet need for new pain therapeutics," said BPN Program Director Charles L. Cywin. "sEH is an important pain target in our portfolio and we are excited to see EC5026 advance to human clinical development on the pathway to treating patients."
The development of EC5026 also drew financial support from the Helping to End Addiction Long-term, or the NIH HEAL Initiative via a grant to EicOsis, which is using the funds to de-risk the development process of EC5026 and to accelerate the start of clinical trials.
"It's clear that a multi-pronged scientific approach is needed to reduce the risks of opioids, accelerate development of effective non-opioid therapies for pain and provide more flexible and effective options for treating addiction to opioids,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, who launched the initiative in early 2018. “This unprecedented investment in the NIH HEAL Initiative demonstrates the commitment to reversing this devastating crisis.”
Contacts:
Media inquiries: info@eicosis.com
Investor inquiries: Cindy McReynolds at cbmcreynolds@eicosis.com