Nonclinical Safety Assessment of a Long-Acting Recombinant PEGylated Factor Eight (BAY 94-9027) With a 60 kDa PEG.

BAY 94-9027 (Jivi) is a site-specifically PEGylated human B-domain-deleted (BDD) recombinant factor VIII (FVIII), with a 60 kDa branched PEG molecule attached. The nonclinical safety of BAY 94-9027 was evaluated in a toxicology program that included 2 weeks intravenous (IV) toxicity studies in rats and rabbits, a juvenile toxicity study in rats as well as a 26-week chronic study in rats. Doses of 75, 750, or 2250 IU/kg given every other day for 2 weeks did not elicit any findings related to BAY 94-9027. Specifically, no thrombus formation or histological changes such as cellular vacuolation were seen. In the chronic toxicity study, 40, 400, and 1200 IU/kg of BAY 94-9027 given twice weekly did not induce adverse effects related to BAY 94-9027, and no tissue vacuolation was observed. There was no PEG detected in choroid plexus or other areas of the brain, cerebrospinal fluid or in spleen or kidneys. These results were supported by toxicity studies in rats and rabbits treated with PEG 60 kDa attached to the maleimide linker (PEG-60-Mal-Cys). No findings related to PEG-60-Mal-Cys were seen. These results demonstrate the safety of BAY 94-9027 for long-term use.

Spatial evaluation of long-term metabolic changes induced by cisplatin nephrotoxicity.

Cisplatin is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent. However, it is causing nephrotoxic side effects including a reduced glomerular filtration rate and acute kidney injury. Although kidneys can recover to an extent from the treatment, long-term damage is possible. While a lot of research is focusing on short-term effects, little is known about adverse metabolic effects in the process of recovery. In this study, male Han Wistar rats were dosed with a single intraperitoneal injection of 3 mg/kg cisplatin. Urine and kidney samples were harvested 3, 8 and 26 days after administration. Tubular injury was demonstrated through urinary biomarkers. Complementing this, mass spectrometry imaging gives insight on molecular alterations on a spatial level, thus making it well suited to analyze short- and long-term disturbances. Various metabolic pathways seem to be affected, as changes in a wide range of metabolites were observed between treated and control animals. Besides previously reported early changes in kidney metabolism, unprecedented long-term effects were detected including deviation in nucleotides, antioxidants, and phospholipids.

Targeted inhibition of activated protein C by a non-active-site inhibitory antibody to treat hemophilia.

Activated protein C (APC) is a plasma serine protease with antithrombotic and cytoprotective functions. Based on the hypothesis that specific inhibition of APC's anticoagulant but not its cytoprotective activity can be beneficial for hemophilia therapy, 2 types of inhibitory monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are tested: A type I active-site binding mAb and a type II mAb binding to an exosite on APC (required for anticoagulant activity) as shown by X-ray crystallography. Both mAbs increase thrombin generation and promote plasma clotting. Type I blocks all APC activities, whereas type II preserves APC's cytoprotective function. In normal monkeys, type I causes many adverse effects including animal death. In contrast, type II is well-tolerated in normal monkeys and shows both acute and prophylactic dose-dependent efficacy in hemophilic monkeys. Our data show that the type II mAb can specifically inhibit APC's anticoagulant function without compromising its cytoprotective function and offers superior therapeutic opportunities for hemophilia.

Comparison of the MesoScale Discovery and Luminex multiplex platforms for measurement of urinary biomarkers in a cisplatin rat kidney injury model.

INTRODUCTION: In the past years several new urinary nephrotoxicity biomarkers have been qualified for use in preclinical studies by the FDA and EMA. Subsequently, kits have been developed to measure these urinary biomarkers on multiplex platforms such as the electro-chemiluminescent based immunoassay from MesoScale Discovery (MSD) and the bead-based immunoassay using Luminex xMAP technology (LMX). The aim of the present study was to compare the two multiplex platforms with respect to the capability of their qualified urinary biomarker panels to measure an increase of these biomarkers relative to histopathological changes in an animal model of nephrotoxicity. METHODS: For comparison of the two platforms we used urine samples from a study with the well-characterized nephrotoxin cisplatin (Cp) in male Wistar rats. The following five biomarkers were measured on both platforms: glutathione S-transferase α (αGST), clusterin (CLU), kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL, a.k.a. lipocalin-2) and osteopontin (OPN). The measurements were compared with respect to both the fold increase observed for each biomarker and the absolute concentrations measured in relation to traditional endpoints for nephrotoxicity in clinical pathology and histopathology. RESULTS: The platform comparison revealed the expected increases of urinary biomarkers after Cp treatment with similar results at the fold change level enabling consistent detection of kidney injury. The comparison of the absolute concentrations of biomarkers measured in the two platforms showed differences, the extent of which was analyte-dependent. DISCUSSION: By comparison of two widely used multiplex platforms, MSD and LMX, for the detection of renal toxicity biomarkers in urine, we observed the expected increases of these biomarkers in response to Cp administration. Depending on the marker, significant differences could be found when comparing the absolute concentrations thus suggesting that baseline levels for each platform will have to be set separately.