Inventiva’s Anti-Fibrotic Drug Candidate, IVA337, Recognized for Its Potential at SSc16 World Congress

IVA337, the leading drug candidate from the biopharmaceutical company Inventiva, received a prize at the recent 4th Systemic Sclerosis World Congress  for its innovative character in treating systemic sclerosis. IVA337 is currently being tested in a Phase 2b clinical trial.

At the congress, Inventiva researchers showed that IVA337 has a unique mechanism of action, and is able to impair the development of fibrosis in organs affected by systemic sclerosis. Researchers presented the results with IVA337 in a poster titled, “Pan PPAR agonist IVA337 has an anti‐fibrotic effect in multiple in vitro and in vivo fibrosis models.”

The team showed that in both in vitro and in vivo fibrosis models, including lung fibrosis (but also in several other organs, such as the liver and kidneys), IVA337 demonstrated anti-fibrotic effects. IVA337 is a next‐generation Pan PPAR agonist, which are drugs that act upon the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, a group of nuclear receptor proteins that function as transcription factors, therefore regulating the expression of genes.

Another presentation at the congress, “Pan PPAR agonist IVA337 is effective in prevention and treatment of experimental skin fibrosis,” showed the positive effects of IVA337 on skin fibrosis. Yannick Allanore, professor of Rheumatology at Hôpital Cochin in Paris, France, presented the findings.

“We are very proud to have been selected from over 400 high‐level research submissions presented at this Congress, which is the most important scientific global event in the field of systemic sclerosis. This recognition reflects IVA337’s promising therapeutic potential, not only in systemic sclerosis, but also in other indications involving fibrosis, such as NASH, for which no effective treatments exist yet,” Pierre Broqua, chief scientific officer and co‐founder of Inventiva, said in a press release.

Parallel to the ongoing phase 2b clinical trial in the treatment of systemic sclerosis, enrolling a total of 135 patients in eight European countries, Inventiva is also moving to launch a phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a severe fibrotic disease of the liver, which can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer, and that affects million individuals throughout the world. The ongoing trial, NCT02503644, is currently recruiting people with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis.

The 4th Systemic Sclerosis World Congress was held in Lisbon, Portugal, from Feb. 18–20, 2016.

Inventiva is a drug discovery company focused on treatments for fibrosis, oncology, and rare diseases. Its R&D facilities are located near Dijon, France.