IMPAHCT: Investigating a different way to treat Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH)
The IMPAHCT Study is a Phase 2b/Phase 3, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of AV-101 (dry powder inhaled imatinib) in patients with PAH. Most approved therapies for PAH do not address the proliferation of cells in the pulmonary vasculature and the subsequent vascular remodeling that cause PAH. Despite the availability of multiple approved therapies, functional limitations and survival of patients with PAH remain unsatisfactory. Therefore, there is a critical unmet need for alternative PAH treatments that directly target the underlying disease process.
Advancing the treatment of PAH
PAH is a disease that disproportionately affects women (65–80%), and often strikes in the prime of life, with the average age of those affected now being 50. People with PAH experience a narrowing and blockage of the blood vessels in the lungs resulting in an increased resistance to blood flow into the lungs from the right side of the heart.
This forces the heart to work harder to meet this abnormal demand, and over time the heart weakens and ultimately may fail.
Existing therapies, known as vasodilators, while effective at providing symptomatic relief, fail to treat the underlying cellular proliferation causing disease progression.
OUR APPROACH
Target disease drivers in PAH with AV-101
Our lead program, AV-101, an investigational proprietary dry powder inhaled formulation of imatinib, is intended to address the underlying hyper-proliferation at the source: within the narrowed arteries of the lungs.
Imatinib is an antiproliferative agent that selectively targets the kinase signaling that has been implicated in causing aberrant cell growth in the pulmonary vasculature, while not interfering with signals needed for healthy cellular function.
AV-101 has been designed to deliver high concentrations of imatinib throughout the airways where it can permeate into the lung parenchyma and immediately reach the surrounding tissue and blood vessels–efficiently delivering a therapeutic medicine straight to diseased blood vessels.
By targeting hyperproliferation in the pulmonary vasculature and limiting systemic exposure, AV-101 has the potential to make a meaningful difference for PAH patients.
