The rationale for development of ligelizumab in food allergy.

Food allergy (FA) is a growing healthcare problem worldwide and the rising prevalence in many countries can be attributed to lifestyle, environmental, and nutritional changes. Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated FA is the most common form of FA affecting approximately 3%-10% of adults and 8% of children across the globe. Food allergen-induced immediate hypersensitivity reactions mediated by IgE and high-affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) complexes on mast cells and basophils are a major hallmark of the disease. FA can affect several aspects of health-related quality of life and impose a substantial financial burden on patients and healthcare systems. Although currently there is one United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA)-approved treatment for peanut allergy (Palforzia), the main treatment approaches are based on allergen avoidance and symptom management. Thus, there is an urgent need for more effective and ideally disease-modifying strategies. Given the crucial role of IgE in FA, anti-IgE monoclonal antibodies are considered promising therapeutic agents. Talizumab was the first humanized anti-IgE antibody to demonstrate substantial protection against allergic reactions from accidental peanut exposure by substantially increasing the peanut reactivity threshold on oral food challenge. However, development of talizumab was discontinued and further trials were performed using omalizumab. In double-blind, Phase 2, placebo-controlled trials in patients with multi-FAs, sustained dosing with omalizumab, or omalizumab in combination with oral immunotherapy, enabled rapid desensitization to multiple trigger foods. In this review, we describe the development of ligelizumab (a derivative of talizumab), a next generation, humanized monoclonal anti-IgE antibody, its existing clinical evidence, and its potential in the management of FA. When compared with omalizumab, ligelizumab binds with ∼88-fold higher affinity for human IgE and recognizes a different epitope that substantially overlaps with the binding site of FcεRI. These properties translate into a high potency to block IgE/FcεRI signaling in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Given its efficient suppression of IgE levels, good safety and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic profile, ligelizumab clearly warrants further studies for the potential management of FA.

Pharmacokinetics and exposure-efficacy relationships of omalizumab in patients with nasal polyps.

The anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody, omalizumab (Xolair), is approved in the United States for the treatment of allergic asthma and chronic spontaneous urticaria, and has recently been studied for the treatment of nasal polyposis following completion of the two replicate phase 3 studies (POLYP 1 and POLYP 2). The dosing of omalizumab used in the phase 3 studies is based on a combination of patients' pre-treatment IgE level and body weight, similar to the approach used in allergic asthma. The objectives of the current analyses were to evaluate whether the pharmacokinetics (PK) of omalizumab and its pharmacodynamic (PD) effect on free and total IgE level in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) are consistent with those in allergic asthma via population PK/PD modeling and simulation, and to graphically explore exposure-response relationships and free IgE-response relationships in CRSwNP. Omalizumab PK and PD effect of total and free IgE in CRSwNP are generally consistent with those in asthma. Observed post-treatment free IgE suppressions were generally within the target range of the baseline IgE- and body weight-based omalizumab dosing table, with 74.2% and 93.0% of patients achieving a serum free IgE level below 25 ng/mL and 50 ng/mL, respectively at Week 24. Exposure-response analyses indicated that there was no clear correlation between omalizumab or free IgE concentration and key efficacy endpoints within the POLYP studies. Overall, these results indicate that the body weight and IgE-based dosing regimen of omalizumab was appropriate for use in CRSwNP patients.

Ligelizumab treatment for severe asthma: learnings from the clinical development programme.

OBJECTIVE: Ligelizumab is a humanised IgG1 anti-IgE antibody that binds IgE with higher affinity than omalizumab. Ligelizumab had greater efficacy than omalizumab on inhaled and skin allergen provocation responses in mild allergic asthma. This multi-centre, randomised, double-blind study was designed to test ligelizumab in severe asthma patients not adequately controlled with high-dose inhaled corticoids plus long-acting ß2-agonist. METHODS: Patients received 16 weeks ligelizumab (240 mg q2w), omalizumab or placebo subcutaneously, and ACQ-7 was measured as primary outcome at Week 16. In addition, the study generated dose-ranging data of ligelizumab and safety data. RESULTS: A total of 471 patients, age 47.4 ± 13.36 years, were included in the study. Treatment with ligelizumab did not significantly improve asthma control (ACQ-7) and exacerbation rates compared to omalizumab and placebo. Therefore, primary and secondary objectives of the study were not met. The compound was well tolerated, and the safety profile showed no new safety findings. Pharmacokinetic data demonstrated faster clearance and lower serum concentrations of ligelizumab than historical omalizumab data, and exploratory in vitro data showed differential IgE blocking properties relative to FcεRI and FcεRII/CD23 between the two compounds. CONCLUSION: Ligelizumab failed to demonstrate superiority over placebo or omalizumab. Although ligelizumab is more potent than omalizumab at inhibiting IgE binding to the high-affinity FcεRI, there is differential IgE blocking properties relative to FcεRI and FcεRII/CD23 between the two compounds. Therefore, the data suggest that different anti-IgE antibodies might be selectively efficacious for different IgE-mediated diseases.

Regional brain mGlu5 receptor occupancy following single oral doses of mavoglurant as measured by [11C]-ABP688 PET imaging in healthy volunteers.

Mavoglurant binds to same allosteric site on metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) as [11C]-ABP688, a radioligand. This open-label, single-center pilot study estimates extent of occupancy of mGluR5 receptors following single oral doses of mavoglurant, using [11C]-ABP688 positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, in six healthy males aged 20-40 years. This study comprised three periods and six subjects were divided into two cohorts. On Day 1 (Period 1), baseline clinical data and safety samples were obtained along with PET scan. During Period 2 (1-7 days after Period 1), cohort 1 and 2 received mavoglurant 25 mg and 100 mg, respectively. During Period 3 (7 days after Period 2), cohort 1 and 2 received mavoglurant 200 mg and 400 mg, respectively. Mavoglurant showed the highest distribution volumes in the cingulate region with lower uptake in cerebellum and white matter, possibly because myelinated axonal sheets maybe devoid of mGlu5 receptors. Maximum concentrations of mavoglurant were observed around 2-3.25 h post-dose. Mavoglurant passed the blood-brain barrier and induced dose- and exposure-dependent displacement of [11C]-ABP688 from the mGluR5 receptors, 3-4 h post-administration (27%, 59%, 74%, 85% receptor occupancy for mavoglurant 25 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, 400 mg dose, respectively). There were no severe adverse effects or clinically significant changes in safety parameters. This is the first human receptor occupancy study completed with Mavoglurant. It served to guide the dosing of mavoglurant in the past and currently ongoing clinical studies. Furthermore, it confirms the utility of [11C]-ABP688 as a unique tool to study drug-induced occupancy of mGlu5 receptors in the living human brain.

Ethnic sensitivity assessment of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of omalizumab with dosing table expansion.

A three-part license expansion for omalizumab (Xolair(®)), humanized anti-IgE antibody, was recently made in Japan for paediatric use, additional higher doses and revised dosing frequency in allergic asthma. The dosing level and frequency of omalizumab are guided by a dosing table based on the total serum IgE and bodyweight. Nonlinear mixed-effect pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) modeling and simulation techniques described the binding between omalizumab and its target IgE. The population PKPD analysis was conducted using data from the nine studies included originally in the European application of dosing table expansion together with three Japanese clinical studies to assess the influence of the ethnicity. Statistically significant differences between the ethnic groups were detected. These were small, within or close to bioequivalence criteria. The model described the primary pharmacology in Caucasian and Japanese patients, both adult and paediatric, with simulations showing that the interplay between the clearance, volume and binding affinity parameters was such that there was no clinical impact of the Japanese ethnic differences on either drug PK or free IgE suppression and hence the required posology.

Population pharmacokinetics of IND/GLY (indacaterol/glycopyrronium) in COPD patients.

OBJECTIVE: Indacaterol/glycopyrronium (IND/GLY) is a fixed-dose combination (FDC) of indacaterol, an inhaled long-acting ß2-agonist (LABA), and glycopyrronium, an inhaled long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA), developed as a maintenance bronchodilator treatment for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A population pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis was performed to describe the PK profiles of indacaterol and glycopyrronium following the twice daily (b.i.d.) and once daily (o.d.) inhalation regimens as FDC or as monotherapies and to determine the effect of covariates. METHODS: PK data in 556 COPD patients were pooled from three phase 3 studies. Two phase 3 studies investigated IND/GLY 27.5/12.5 µg b.i.d. and the third study investigated IND/GLY 110/50 µg o.d. Body weight was included in the model with fixed allometric coefficients for indacaterol and glycopyrronium. RESULTS: Statistically significant effects of smoking, age, and sex on apparent clearance of indacaterol; smoking, and estimated glomerular filtration rate at baseline on apparent clearance and Japanese ethnicity on apparent central volume of distribution of glycopyrronium were identified. CONCLUSION: Systemic exposure to indacaterol and glycopyrronium was shown to be dose-proportional and time-independent following inhalation either as monotherapies or FDC. None of the identified covariate effects was judged to be clinically relevant. There is no PK drug-drug interaction between indacaterol and glycopyrronium in its FDC.

Relationship between omalizumab pharmacokinetics, IgE pharmacodynamics and symptoms in patients with severe persistent allergic (IgE-mediated) asthma.

AIMS: Omalizumab, a subcutaneously administered anti-IgE antibody, is effective for moderate-to-severe persistent allergic asthma. The aims were to (i) describe the population pharmacodynamics of free IgE with a mechanism-based, nonlinear, omalizumab-IgE binding model; (ii) deduce a target-free IgE suppression level by correlation with clinical outcomes; and (iii) check the adequacy of current approved dosing tables and explore potential doses and regimens beyond. METHODS: Concentration data (omalizumab, free and total IgE) were obtained from 1781 patients aged 12-79 years, in four sparsely sampled randomized, placebo-controlled studies and 152 subjects in a richly sampled single-dose study. NONMEM predictive performance across the range of bodyweights (39-150 kg) and baseline IgE (19-1055 IU ml(-1)) was checked by simulation. Predicted free IgE levels were correlated with time-averaged patient diary clinical outcomes. RESULTS: The model accurately predicted observed omalizumab, free and total IgE concentrations. Free IgE concentrations correlated well with clinical signs and symptoms, allowing a target concentration of 14 ng ml(-1), at the midpoint of 4-week clinical observation periods, to be set for determining the dose and regimen for omalizumab. CONCLUSIONS: The omalizumab-IgE binding model is predictive for free IgE and demonstrates a nonlinear time-dependent relationship between free IgE suppression and clinical outcomes in asthma. Although currently approved dosing tables are close to optimal, it should be possible to treat patients with higher levels of baseline IgE if higher doses can be administered.