Phase II trial starts for Phynova's hepatitis C-fighting Chinese herbal

UK company Phynova, a developer of prescription pharmaceuticals derived from traditional Chinese botanical medicines, says its lead product for hepatitis C will enter Phase II trials in the first half of this year.

PYN17 - for treating the symptoms of chronic hepatitis C - is on track for start of Phase II clinical trial in April 2007.

Hepatitis C is endemic in many parts of Asia and is now becoming a serious threat in the Western world, with over 4 million cases in the US. In January 2007, the FDA approved Phynova's PYN17 Investigational New Drug (IND) application. The phase II trial will begin in five centres in the US. An interim analysis is expected around the end of the year.

The company has a further six products in preclinical development, including PYN18 is an antiviral in development for the treatment of Hepatitis C virus. Phynova has recently demonstrated that PYN18 is also active against dengue virus, the causative agent of Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever, a common and serious tropical disease that is endemic in much of Asia.

A third candidate of interest is PYN22, a lipid lowering compound in-licensed from China. Preliminary in vitro and in vivo experiments indicate that PYN22 reduces both blood lipids and percentage body fat. Data generated by Phynova's Chinese collaborators have been confirmed and extended by a group in the UK. They have shown that PYN22 reduces both insulin resistance and blood glucose levels in a similar manner to that seen with the oral antidiabetic rosiglitazone (GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia), one of the current standard treatments for Type II diabetes, often associated with fatty liver disease.

Phynova expects to commence clinical testing of PYN22 during 2007.