- LIQ861 was well-tolerated in PAH patients at two months of treatment
- INSPIRE enrollment complete, including PK sub-study
- Anticipate submitting NDA for LIQ861 to the FDA in late 2019
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Liquidia Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: LQDA) (“Liquidia”), a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of human therapeutics using its proprietary PRINT® technology, today announced top-line results of its pivotal Phase 3 INSPIRE study in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (“PAH”) treated with LIQ861, the first inhaled dry powder formulation of treprostinil. Initial analysis indicates the study has met its primary endpoint of safety and tolerability of LIQ861 at the two-month timepoint.
Nicholas Hill, MD, Chief Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Division and Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and INSPIRE Principal Investigator, stated: “The top-line analysis of LIQ861 from the INSPIRE study is highly encouraging for physicians and patients. LIQ861 was safely titrated to therapeutic levels across a wide range of inhaled doses and was very well tolerated. This means that we are moving closer to having an inhaled therapy available for PAH that is much more convenient than previous ones. Most patients tolerated relatively high doses of treprostinil, raising the possibility that the PRINT technology, by virtue of its ability to make microscopic particles of uniform size, could improve distribution of drug to the lung, enhancing therapeutic effect.”
LIQ861 was observed to be well-tolerated in 109 patients, with 101 patients (93%) completing at least two months of treatment. During the two-month period, LIQ861 was evaluated at doses up to 150 mcg capsule strength with no study-drug related serious adverse events observed. Reported treatment-emergent adverse events (“TEAEs”) were mostly mild to moderate in nature. The most common TEAEs reported with LIQ861 in ≥4% of PAH patients were cough (33%), headache (18%), throat irritation (14%), dizziness (10%), diarrhea (8%), oropharyngeal pain (6%), nausea (6%) dyspnea (6%), flushing (6%) and chest discomfort (5%). These observations are consistent with the safety data at the two-week timepoint reported on January 7, 2019. Of the TEAEs observed, most were reported during the first two weeks of initial exposure and occurred in patients previously naïve to prostacyclin-based therapy in which LIQ861 was added to oral therapy.
Neal Fowler, Chief Executive Officer of Liquidia, commented: “We are extremely grateful to the patients participating in the clinical trial and for the effort and speed with which our investigators completed enrollment. We believe the commitment to this study signals an increasing need for safe, more convenient inhaled treatment options. We are preparing the new drug application submission, while collecting additional longitudinal data on the benefits from LIQ861.”
In addition to meeting the primary endpoint, the one-directional crossover sub-study to compare bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of treprostinil as the patients transition from Tyvaso to LIQ861 has been fully enrolled. Liquidia expects to report its pharmacokinetics results in the second quarter of 2019 and plans to provide more detailed clinical results through scientific disclosures at upcoming congresses and in peer-reviewed publications.
