Arch Biopartners Announces Alberta Health Services Approval to Proceed with Phase II Trial for LSALT Peptide Targeting Cardiac Surgery-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (CS-AKI)

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Arch Biopartners
Arch Biopartners

TORONTO, Sept. 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arch Biopartners Inc., (“Arch” or the “Company”) (TSX Venture: ARCH and OTCQB: ACHFF), announced today that Alberta Health Services (AHS) has approved the Phase II trial for LSALT peptide targeting the prevention and treatment of cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CS-AKI).

The clinical team at the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine is now completing final preparations and training to enable the start of patient recruitment in September. University Health Network and Unity Health Toronto are also working on final ethics and hospital approvals to start patient recruitment at Toronto General Hospital and St. Michael’s Hospital, respectively.

The trial continues to recruit patients at five clinical sites in Turkey.

About the CS-AKI Phase II Trial

The CS-AKI Phase II trial is an international, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of LSALT peptide with a recruitment target of 240 patients.

The primary objective of the trial is to evaluate the percentage of subjects with acute kidney injury (AKI) within seven days following on-pump (heart-lung machine) cardiac surgery, as defined by the KDIGO (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes) criteria.

Details of the Phase II trial, entitled “Phase 2 Global, Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of LSALT peptide for the Prevention or Attenuation of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in Patients Undergoing On-Pump Cardiac Surgery” can be viewed at clinicaltrials.gov.

CS-AKI and LSALT peptide

CS-AKI is often caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) which reduces blood flow (ischemia) and oxygen to the kidney, causing kidney cell damage. When blood flow is restored (reperfusion), inflammation is triggered, exacerbating injury to the kidney. There is no therapeutic treatment available in the market today that prevents acute kidney injury of the type commonly experienced by on-pump cardiac surgery patients. In the worst cases of AKI, the kidneys fail, requiring kidney dialysis or kidney transplant for survival.

LSALT peptide is the Company’s lead drug candidate for preventing and treating inflammation injury in the kidneys, lungs and liver. The drug targets the dipeptidase-1 (DPEP1) pathway and has been shown by Arch scientists and their collaborators to prevent IRI to the kidneys in pre-clinical models (video), providing the scientific rationale for Arch to use LSALT peptide in this CS-AKI trial. Details of their findings were published in the journal Science Advances, titled Dipeptidase-1 governs renal inflammation during ischemia reperfusion injury by Lau et. al. and can be found along with the latest peer-reviewed publications about DPEP1 and LSALT peptide at the Company’s website.