Positive Ph II Data With Alteon's Pimagedine

Alteon Inc has reported that its flagship compound, pimagedine, loweredserum lipid levels in type II diabetics with dyslipidemia enrolled in a Phase II trial. Pimagedine was also found to lower albumin levels by around 40% in patients with albuminuria, says the company. Although this was not an endpoint of the trial, the company says that this finding suggests that pimagedine may also have a positive effect on kidney disease.

The trial involved 90 patients who were randomized to receive either pimagedine or placebo for a three-month period. Pimagedine-treated patients were found to have significantly lower levels of low-density lipoprotein, very-low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B. The greatest reduction was recorded in patients with the most elevated lipid levels, Alteon points out.

Alteon is also conducting two Phase III studies, ACTION I and ACTION II, which are investigating pimagedine in overt nephropathy in both type I and type II diabetics, respectively (Marketletter December 9, 1996). Results from ACTION I are expected in 1998, it says, while Phase II data from its end-stage renal disease trial in type I and type II diabetics are due mid-1997.