Vivani Medical Receives Regulatory Approval to Initiate First in Human Clinical Trial with GLP-1 Implant in Obese and Overweight Individuals in Australia
September 26 2024 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
NPM-115 clinical program utilizes a miniature,
GLP-1 (exenatide) implant designed to provide comparable efficacy
to semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic®/Wegovy®, with
twice-yearly administration
Study will represent the first clinical
application of NanoPortal™, the Company’s proprietary drug implant
platform technology
Vivani Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: VANI) (“Vivani” or the “Company”),
an innovative, biopharmaceutical company developing novel, ultra
long-acting drug implants, today announced that the Bellberry Human
Research Ethics Committee (“HREC”) has approved and the Therapeutic
Goods Administration (“TGA”) in Australia has formally acknowledged
a first in human clinical trial of the Company’s miniature,
subdermal GLP-1 (exenatide) implant in obese and overweight
subjects. This clinical trial, known as LIBERATE-1™, will
investigate the safety, tolerability and full pharmacokinetic
profile of an exenatide implant and represents the first clinical
application of the Company’s proprietary NanoPortal™ drug implant
technology.
“Securing regulatory approval keeps us on schedule to initiate
this trial in Australia in the fourth quarter of 2024,” said Adam
Mendelsohn, Ph.D., Vivani President and Chief Executive Officer.
“Preclinical weight loss and liver fat data announced earlier this
year supports the potential for our GLP-1 implant to provide
comparable efficacy to semaglutide, the active ingredient in
blockbuster products Ozempic® and Wegovy®, but with the significant
benefit of twice-yearly administration. We remain confident that
our emerging portfolio of miniature, ultra long-acting, GLP-1
implants has the potential to be highly differentiated from the
injectable and oral products in the market and in development.
Specifically, our implants are uniquely designed to address
medication non-adherence, a critical challenge for many patients
which we believe represents the largest opportunity to improve real
world health outcomes for patients, and the steady delivery of
medicine enabled by our NanoPortal technology may also improve
treatment tolerability.”
LIBERATE-1 will be a randomized investigation of the safety,
tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile of the exenatide
NanoPortal implant in obese or overweight subjects. The trial will
enroll participants who will be titrated on weekly semaglutide
injections for 8 weeks (0.25 mg/week for 4 weeks followed by 0.5
mg/week for 4 weeks) before being randomized to receive a single
administration of Vivani’s exenatide implant (n=8), weekly
exenatide injections (n=8), or weekly 1 mg semaglutide injections
(n=8) for a 9-week treatment duration. Changes in weight will be
measured. The trial is expected to be initiated later this year
with data projected to be available in 2025.
If available, Vivani intends to utilize research and development
incentives and rebates from the Australian government in order to
defray a portion of the costs from the trial. Since clinical
studies conducted in Australia comply with the International
Conference on Harmonization guidelines and data generated in
Australia generally are acceptable to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration and other regulatory authorities, Vivani anticipates
use of relevant clinical data generated in Australia to support
regulatory submissions in other geographies including the United
States. Additional guidance regarding future regulatory submissions
will be provided as new information becomes available.
Ozempic® and Wegovy® are registered trademarks of Novo Nordisk
A/S.
About Vivani Medical, Inc.
Leveraging its proprietary NanoPortal™ platform, Vivani develops
biopharmaceutical implants designed to deliver drug molecules
steadily over extended periods of time with the goal of
guaranteeing adherence, and potentially to improve patient
tolerance to their medication. Vivani’s lead program, NPM-115,
utilizes a miniature, six-month, subdermal, GLP-1 (exenatide)
implant under development for the treatment of chronic weight
management in obese or overweight individuals. Vivani’s emerging
pipeline also includes the NPM-139 (semaglutide) implant which is
also under development for chronic weight management in obese and
overweight individuals. The semaglutide implant has the added
potential benefit of once-yearly administration. NPM-119 refers to
the Company’s Type 2 Diabetes development program utilizing a
six-month, subdermal exenatide implant. Both the NPM-115 and
NPM-119 programs utilize exenatide based products with a
higher-dose associated with the NPM-115 program for chronic weight
management in obese or overweight patients. These NanoPortal
implants are designed to provide patients with the opportunity to
realize the full potential benefit of their medication by avoiding
the challenges associated with the daily or weekly administration
of orals and injectables. Medication non-adherence occurs when
patients do not take their medication as prescribed. This affects
an alarming number of patients, approximately 50%, including those
taking daily pills. Medication non-adherence, which contributes to
more than $500 billion in annual avoidable healthcare costs and
125,000 potentially preventable deaths annually in the U.S. alone,
is a primary and daunting reason obese or overweight patients, and
patients taking type 2 diabetes or other chronic disease
treatments, face significant challenges in achieving positive
real-world effectiveness. While the current GLP-1 landscape
includes over 50 new molecular entities under clinical stage
development, Vivani remains confident that its highly
differentiated portfolio of miniature long-acting GLP-1 implants
have the potential to provide an attractive therapeutic option for
patients, prescribers and payers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the US
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements can be identified by words such as: “target,” “believe,”
“expect,” “will,” “may,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “would,”
“positioned,” “future,” and other similar expressions that in this
press release, including statements regarding Vivani’s business,
products in development, including the therapeutic potential
thereof, the planned development therefor, the initiation of the
LIBERATE-1 trial and reporting of trial results, Vivani’s emerging
development plans for NPM-115, NPM-139, or Vivani’s plans with
respect to Vivani’s technology, strategy, cash position and
financial runway. Forward-looking statements are neither historical
facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based
only on Vivani’s current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions.
Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are
subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in
circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are
outside of Vivani’s control. Actual results and outcomes may differ
materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.
Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking
statements. Important factors that could cause actual results and
outcomes to differ materially from those indicated in the
forward-looking statements include, among others, risks related to
the development and commercialization of Vivani’s products,
including NPM-115 and NPM-119; delays and changes in the
development of Vivani’s products, including as a result of
applicable laws, regulations and guidelines, potential delays in
submitting and receiving regulatory clearance or approval to
conduct Vivani’s development activities, risks related to the
initiation, enrollment and conduct of Vivani’s planned clinical
trials and the results therefrom; Vivani’s history of losses and
Vivani’s ability to access additional capital or otherwise fund
Vivani’s business. There may be additional risks that the Company
considers immaterial, or which are unknown. A further list and
description of risks and uncertainties can be found in the
Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed on March 26, 2024, as
updated by the Company’s subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
Any forward-looking statement made by Vivani in this press release
is based only on information currently available to the Company and
speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to
time, whether as a result of added information, future developments
or otherwise, except as required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240926562822/en/
Company: Donald Dwyer Chief Business Officer
info@vivani.com (415) 506-8462 Investor Relations: Jami
Taylor Investor Relations Advisor investors@vivani.com (415)
506-8462 Media: Sean Leous ICR Westwicke
sean.leous@westwicke.com (646) 866-4012
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