Akebia announces first patient dosed in Phase 2 trial of praliciguat

Akebia (AKBA) Therapeutics announced that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase 2 clinical trial of praliciguat, an oral, once-daily soluble guanylate cyclase, sGC, stimulator being evaluated for the treatment of biopsy-confirmed FSGS, a rare kidney disease, with plans to assess its use in other rare podocytopathies in the future. “We are pleased by the timely initiation of this important Phase 2 clinical trial of praliciguat and have successfully dosed the first patient following the defined screening process,” said Dr. Steven Burke, Chief Medical Officer. “FSGS is a rare kidney disease that affects approximately 40,000 patients in the U.S, and there are no approved treatments. Praliciguat is a promising therapeutic candidate with no significant safety issues observed in Phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers and Phase 2 studies in heart failure and diabetic kidney disease. Praliciguat is a key component of our recently announced mid-stage rare kidney disease pipeline.”