Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (“COPD”) is a lung disease frequently associated with cigarette smoking and air pollution. COPD is characterized by progressive loss of lung function and chronic inflammation of the airways. The disease is estimated to affect up to 600 million people worldwide with estimates of the number of people suffering from the moderate and severe forms that most frequently require treatment ranging from 65 million to over 200 million. It is the third leading cause of death in the United States and the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. COPD affects almost 25 million people in the United States alone, at an estimated annual economic burden of $50 billion. COPD is the leading cause of urgent hospitalization in developed countries.

COPD patients suffer periodic episodes with severe worsening of symptoms, known as exacerbations. Exacerbations are characterized by severe airway inflammation triggered by various factors, such as viral or bacterial infection, or environmental irritants. Symptoms include cough, difficulty breathing, elevated mucous production, reduced tolerance to exertion and fatigue, and these symptoms typically worsen over time and often cause feelings of suffocation, panic and anxiety. Exacerbations can be so severe that they lead to respiratory failure and death. These exacerbations have a profoundly negative impact on the quality of life and long-term survival of patients and cause significant challenges for healthcare systems and the global economy. Each year on average, patients experience one to two exacerbations, which may be classified as mild, moderate or severe (requiring hospitalization). Of COPD patients, 22-40% die within one year of a severe exacerbation and 66% die within three years. Since exacerbations involve severe increased airway inflammation, treatment with potent antiinflammatories that reduces the recruitment of immune cells (especially neutrophils) to the lungs is potentially a promising strategy to reduce exacerbations.

Most marketed therapies for COPD are inhaled drugs directed towards managing symptoms by dilating narrowed airways (bronchodilators) often in combination with inhaled corticosteroids intended to open the airways as much possible to improve the ease of breathing. These inhaled therapies have modest effects on slowing the progression of COPD or reducing exacerbations. With over two decades of innovation and incremental improvement from new bronchodilator approvals, the majority of moderate and severe COPD patients still suffer from periodic exacerbations and approximately two-thirds of these patients have multiple exacerbations per year. We believe that there is a significant medical need for new oral therapies to treat the acute and chronic lung inflammation that COPD patients experience, to reduce the severity, duration and reoccurrence of exacerbations and to slow or prevent disease progression. We believe that the anti-inflammatory properties that we have demonstrated for AQX-1125 to date compare favorably with roflumilast and oral corticosteroids while having a safety profile potentially more suitable for prolonged use.

Our Phase 2 trial, known as the FLAGSHIP trial, will evaluate the effect of AQX-1125 compared to placebo in approximately 350-400 unstable moderate to severe COPD patients who have experienced a recent exacerbation and at least two other exacerbations in the prior 18 months. We believe this trial targets the COPD patients in greatest need and with the highest likelihood of responding to anti-inflammatory therapy. This novel trial design utilizes the recently developed EXacerbations of Chronic pulmonary disease Tool (EXACT), a patient-reported outcome (PRO) measurement tool, which is a highly sensitive patient reported questionnaire utilizing electronic diaries for accurate and reliable capture of data on the daily symptoms affecting COPD patients. The FLAGSHIP trial will be conducted in Northern and Central Europe at outpatient clinics and is anticipated to complete with full enrollment and initial results in the first half of 2015.

We believe the selection of COPD as a targeted clinical indication matches well with AQX-1125’s demonstrated ability, in both preclinical studies and clinical trials, to reduce inflammation, in particular neutrophils, in the airways in response to environmental inflammatory stimuli. By focusing the trial to include COPD patients with frequent exacerbations, a population with frequent clinical events, allows for shorter trial duration and number of patients needed to see sufficient clinical events to detect the effects of AQX-1125 in a 12 week trial.

For more information on the FLAGSHIP study, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.