On January 12, 2020 Ascendis Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ASND), a biopharmaceutical company that utilizes its innovative TransCon technologies to address significant unmet medical needs, reported that it will provide an outlook for 2020 and review progress towards Vision 3×3, the company’s strategic roadmap through 2025 to achieve sustainable growth at the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco (Press release, Ascendis Pharma, JAN 12, 2020, View Source [SID1234553048]).
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"2019 was a transformative year for Ascendis Pharma. For our endocrinology rare disease portfolio, we were successful in our first phase 3 trial for a TransCon product candidate, TransCon hGH, and we advanced two other programs globally into phase 2. In addition, we established oncology as our second therapeutic area with a highly-differentiated pipeline leveraging the TransCon technology," said Jan Mikkelsen, Ascendis Pharma’s President and Chief Executive Officer. "As groundbreaking as 2019 was for Ascendis, it was only the beginning of our path to build a leading fully-integrated global biopharma company. We are on track with our Vision 3×3 goals to deliver multiple sources of sustainable growth as we seek to make a meaningful difference in patients’ lives."
Pipeline Updates and 2020 Outlook
TransCon hGH: TransCon hGH is an investigational long-acting prodrug of human growth hormone (hGH) in phase 3 development as a once-weekly treatment for growth hormone deficiency (GHD). TransCon hGH releases unmodified somatropin and has demonstrated a statistically significant increase in height velocity compared to a daily hGH in the phase 3 heiGHt Trial:
Ascendis Pharma recently held two pre-BLA meetings with the U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) to review its Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC), and clinical/non-clinical packages for TransCon hGH as a potential treatment for pediatric GHD. The company is on track to file a Biologics License Application with the FDA in the second quarter. A Marketing Authorisation Application to the European Medicines Agency is planned to follow in the fourth quarter.
Long-term data presented from the ongoing enliGHten Trial (long-term extension) continued to demonstrate statistically superior growth of subjects treated with once-weekly TransCon hGH in the heiGHt Trial who continued into enliGHten, compared to those who started treatment with daily Genotropin and switched to TransCon hGH after one year. The adverse event profile of TransCon hGH, which was comparable to Genotropin in the phase 3 heiGHt Trial, was consistent across the phase 3 clinical trials.
The company plans to submit regulatory filings to initiate a global, phase 3 clinical trial in adult GHD during the first quarter, and to initiate a trial in pediatric GHD in Japan during the fourth quarter.
TransCon PTH: TransCon PTH is an investigational long-acting prodrug of parathyroid hormone (PTH) in development as a once-daily replacement therapy for hypoparathyroidism (HP) designed to replace PTH at physiologic levels for 24 hours each day and fully address all aspects of the disease:
Following completion of screening of subjects in the recently expanded phase 2 PaTH Forward Trial, Ascendis intends to enroll approximately 55 subjects in the trial. The company expects to report top-line results from the trial around the end of March 2020, with six-month data from the open-label extension phase expected in the third quarter.
Preliminary data presented from the first eight subjects who completed four weeks of follow-up in the open-label extension portion of the phase 2 PaTH Forward Trial reinforce the company’s target product profile for TransCon PTH as a promising new potential therapy for HP in the absence of standard of care.
The company plans to submit regulatory filings to initiate a global, phase 3 clinical trial in adults with HP during the fourth quarter.
TransCon CNP: TransCon CNP is an investigational long-acting prodrug of CNP in development as a therapy for children with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, for which there is no FDA-approved treatment. TransCon CNP is designed to provide continuous exposure of CNP at safe, therapeutic levels via a single, weekly subcutaneous dose:
Ascendis is conducting the phase 2 ACcomplisH Trial of TransCon CNP in children (ages 2-10 years) with achondroplasia and plans to escalate sequential dose cohorts throughout 2020.
The company is expanding the TransCon CNP program in China through its strategic investment in VISEN Pharmaceuticals, with initiation of a second phase 2 trial in children with achondroplasia during the fourth quarter.
Oncology: Ascendis continues to advance a pipeline of multiple pre-clinical programs in oncology by applying both systemic and sustained localized TransCon technologies for clinically validated pathways:
Additional data from non-human primate studies demonstrated that a single dose of TransCon IL-2 b/g provided biased receptor binding and prolonged enhancement of lymphocyte counts, suggesting feasibility of every three week dosing and reduced risk of toxicity.
Ascendis Pharma’s innovative TransCon technology for sustained localized release intratumorally (IT) was accepted to participate in the FDA’s Emerging Technology Program. The program provides for enhanced interactions and dialogue with the FDA to discuss, identify and resolve potential technical and CMC regulatory questions related to the TransCon sustained IT programs prior to filing regulatory submissions.
The company plans to file an IND or equivalent for its first oncology program in 2020, furthering the goal to create best-in-class oncology therapeutics.
Presentation at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Monday, January 13
Live webcasts of the J.P. Morgan presentation and associated Question & Answer session will be available in the Investors and News section of the Ascendis Pharma website at:
The presentation will begin at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, followed by the Question & Answer session at 8:30 a.m. A webcast replay will also be available for 30 days.
The company’s corporate investor presentation and slides from the J.P. Morgan presentation are also available in the Investors and News section.