14th Apr 2015 07:00
VERONA PHARMA PLC - Presentation at the Asthma and COPD ConferenceVERONA PHARMA PLC - Presentation at the Asthma and COPD Conference
PR Newswire
London, April 13
Verona Pharma plc ("Verona Pharma" or the "Company") RPL554 Presentation at theAsthma and COPD Conference, London, 14 April2015 London, UK, 14 April 2015 - Verona Pharma plc (AIM: VRP), the drug developmentcompany focused on first-in-class medicines to treat respiratory diseases,reports that the Company CEO, Dr Jan-Anders Karlsson, will be presenting at the11th Annual Asthma and COPD Conference, taking place at the Holiday Inn RegentsPark, London at 13:30 today. The oral presentation will discuss "RPL554 as a novel treatment for severeCOPD". COPD is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world, and theprevalence is increasing. In the UK, COPD is one of the most common causes ofhospitalisation and more effective treatments are needed to reduceexacerbations of this disease. The presentation supports Verona Pharma's viewthat the emerging profile of RPL554 suggests that it could potentially becomean important addition to available treatment options both as a monotherapy and,as a result of its unique mechanism of action, as a combination partner forexisting drugs for COPD. Verona Pharma has demonstrated in previous clinicaltrials that RPL554 has the unique ability to combine potent bronchodilationwith broad anti-inflammatory activity in a single molecule. The Company isinitially developing RPL554 as a treatment for acute exacerbations in COPD,where they believe it has significant potential in a market for nebulisedbronchodilator drugs currently worth $1 billion in the US alone.1 -Ends For further information please contact: Verona Pharma plc Tel: +44 (0) 20 3283 4200Jan-Anders Karlsson, Chief Executive Officer FTI Consulting Tel: +44 (0)20 3727 1000Julia Phillips / Simon Conway Notes to Editors About the Asthma and COPD Conference Asthma and COPD together create an enormous public health burden and an urgentneed for progress in disease understanding, therapy and care. The 11th AnnualAsthma & COPD Conference provide the opportunity to share in the experiences ofleading lights in the field who are addressing the challenges of solving theriddle of pathogenesis, biomarkers and endpoints, personalising therapies vs.the unmet need, tackling the causes and consequences of exacerbations,development of new animal models and better tools for disease diagnosis andmonitoring. This conference will give delegates invaluable insights into the key thinkingand advances in the respiratory drug market, focusing on the challenges andsolutions to enhance patient outcomes, providing extensive knowledge from thekey leading industry, academic and care providing experts. Further information on the conference can be accessed via the followingweblink: http://www.smi-online.co.uk/pharmaceuticals/uk/conference/asthma-copd. About Verona Pharma plc Verona Pharma plc is a UK-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical companyfocused on the development of innovative prescription medicines to treatrespiratory diseases with significant unmet medical needs, such as chronicobstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and cystic fibrosis. Verona Pharma's lead drug, RPL554, is a first-in-class drug currently in PhaseII trials as a nebulised treatment for acute exacerbations of COPD in thehospital setting. The drug is a dual phosphodiesterase (PDE) 3/4 inhibitor andtherefore has both bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory effects, which areessential to the improvement of patients with COPD and asthma. Verona Pharma is also building a broader portfolio of RPL554-containingproducts to maximise its benefit to patients and its value. This includes thevery significant markets for COPD and asthma maintenance therapy. The Companyis also exploring the potential of the drug in different diseases, such ascystic fibrosis, where it is in pre-clinical testing and has recently receiveda Venture and Innovation Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. About Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Sixty-five million people worldwide suffer from moderate to severe COPD and theWorld Health Organisation (WHO) expects COPD to be the 3rd leading cause ofdeath globally by 2020. It is the only major chronic disease with increasingmortality. Currently available drugs are aimed at long-term maintenancetherapy, with the market dominated by large pharma. Despite the wideavailability of these therapies, COPD patients suffer acute periods ofworsening symptoms (exacerbations), which cause, in the US alone, some 1.5million A&E visits, 726,000 hospitalisations and 120,000 deaths per annum. Bronchodilating therapy is considered to be the standard of care, and agentscan be administered via handheld devices such as metered dose inhaler (MDI),dry powder inhaler (DPI) and by nebulisers. The nebulised bronchodilator marketwas worth about $1 billion in 2014 in the US.1 RPL554 is being developed byVerona Pharma as an add-on therapy to the "Standard of Care" with theobjectives of providing rapid and pronounced improvement in lung function,reduced symptoms and both shortened duration of hospital stays and reducedre-admission rates 30 days after discharge from hospital. Studies to date onRPL554 have demonstrated that it has a strongly differentiated 3-way mode ofaction, being: (1) bronchodilation (the relaxation of smooth muscle in theairway); (2) anti-inflammatory effects on cells and (3) ion channel activationin epithelial cells, with increased mucociliary clearance of the airway. References1 IMS Consulting Group market research 2014
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