Akebia Therapeutics has stepped up to the plate, is waiting for the pitch, and is confident in its abilities to hit the ball out of the park.
"Both are potential home runs," says Ian Howes of Akebia's two revolutionary drugs for treatment of anemia, blood vessel leakage and cancer.
The Cincinnati-based biomedical company spun off of Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals in 2007. Since then, Akebia has focused on two drugs with technical-sounding names: AKB-6548 and AKB-9778.
The first has moved into the early stages of human trials and is designed as a safer alternative to traditional anemia treatments. According to Howes, chief financial officer and vice president of corporate development, one of the problems in combating anemia is the traditional treatment. Current drugs boost EPO -- the hormone that triggers production of red cells -- but at a dangerous 500 to 1,000 times the needed amount.
Akebia's AKB-6548 has shown in animal and early human trials to boost EPO production only two to three times the normal amount, Howes says.
The second drug is still six months from clinical trials, but is even more promising, Howes says. AKB-9778, designed to stop blood vessel leaks, could revolutionize treatments for diseases like sepsis and acute influenza as well as the effects of Interleukin 2, a cancer drug that can cause blood vessel leaks. Akebia's new drug stopped 100 percent of the leaks that IL2 caused in animal tests. But the most surprising -- and potentially most beneficial finding? Howes says early results indicated the new drug also stopped cancer tumors from spreading to other parts of the body.
Akebia currently has 11 employees, but Howes says once the second drug enters clinical trials, the company could grow to 15 to 20.
Source: Ian Howes, Akebia
Writer: Gene Monteith