Clinical data shows ‘important advance’ in new OA therapy

A veterinary biotechnology company has presented positive clinical data for a canine osteoarthritis (OA) treatment said to offer both pain relief and protect against cartilage degradation.

VetrixBio presented the first clinical data for its investigational bispecific antibody VTX-304 at the sixth International Veterinary Pain Short Course, hosted at North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine.

The therapy is said to simultaneously target nerve growth factor (NGF), a key mediator of pain signalling in OA, and ADAMTS-5, the primary enzyme responsible for early cartilage breakdown in OA.

Comparable relief

VetrixBio’s key findings included that VTX-304 delivered pain relief comparable to the anti-NGF monoclonal antibody bedinvetmab, as measured by the modified Canine Brief Pain Inventory, in a natural OA model with aged beagles (mean age 10.8 years).

Meanwhile, the treatment demonstrated “potent NGF/TrkA pathway inhibition and effective blockade of ADAMTS-5-mediated aggrecan cleavage, consistent with cartilage protection”, in biochemical and cell-based studies.

VTX-304 – described as being potentially the first ever disease-modifying OA drug – is administered subcutaneously to provide local anti-NGF and anti-ADAMTS-5 activity in the joints affected by OA.

Disease biology

VetrixBio’s chief scientific officer Peter Hanson said: “Pain and OA in dogs are multifactorial. Single-pathway therapies leave significant disease biology unaddressed.

“VTX-304 represents an important advance, anchoring analgesia to diseased joint biology while protecting cartilage integrity. These initial results show that our bispecific antibody has the potential to deliver superior therapeutic profiles in veterinary medicine.”