Disease-related injury in lung or other organ systems triggers tissue fibrosis. Fibrosis in lung cause it to become stiffer and lose elasticity so it less able to inflate and take oxygen from breathing. Nowadays, due to the air pollution and PM2.5, this symptom is an increasing cause of morbidity and mortality.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is one of the lung disease that occurs when lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred which is progressive and ultimately fatal. This chronic irreversible disease effects the gas-exchange function of lung and increased work of breathing eventually leads to respiratory failure and death. Because the disease is difficult to diagnose, the patient population is relatively few. once diagnosed, it’s almost at the late stage and the medication erenow can only treat symptoms. In 2014, there were only 2 clinical studies of IPF announced in the world, and the mechanism of these drugs remained unclear. The urgent needs of this disease have met the qualification of Orphan Drug, and therefore, Metagone is committed to developing new chemical entity with a specific target and clear mechanism.
Metagone’s new prodult- MG-S-2525 is a small molecule kinase inhibitor that, in pre-clinical studies have shown to be effective and safe in animal models of IPF. The global markets forecasting of COPD and IPF will reach a value of $3.2 billion by 2025.
MG-S-2525 has been approved by the FDA and TFDA on July 25, 2018 and November 16, 2018 . Phase 1 clinical trial schedules is completed in Aug. 2019. Confirmed that MG-S-2525 does not cause adverse reactions in human. Now ,ongoing discussions with multiple parties on out-licensing.
Figure legends:
(A)Mechanism of MG-S-2525 in IPF
(B)Normal lung tissue is arranged neatly and tightly. (Figure from PROMICRA, s.r.o)
(C)Lung fibrosis mice model: The disease model shows that the bronchial cells get thicken abnormally (black arrow), and excessive collagen are secreted by fibroblasts (yellow arrow), causing fibrosis in lung.
(D)Lung fibrosis mice model with MG-S-2525 treatment: MG-S-2525 shows efficacy in turning abnormal cell growth and tissue damage to normal.