York Pharma's Carbenoxolone performs well in study

UK-based York Pharma, a specialist developer of products for the dermatology market, says that its lead development candidate, carbenoxolone (YP003), has performed well in an initial Phase II study. The drug, which belongs to a new class of vitamin A metabolic pathway inhibitors, was tested for efficacy in 12 patients with mild-to-moderate psoriasis.

During the placebo-controlled study, each patient was treated with 2% carbenoxolone gel, 0.05% calcipotriol and placebo in turn. The results show that the drug displayed favorable clinical efficacy and brought about a reduction in redness scaling and the thickness of plaques associated with the condition. The firm says it will carry out further Phase II studies of the compound in the near future.