UK-based Heptares Therapeutics has started dosing subjects in a Phase I clinical trial of HTL0016878 being developed for the treatment of neurobehavioural symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease patients.

HTL0016878 is an oral, small molecule agonist of muscarinic M4 receptor currently being developed by the firm in collaboration with Allergan.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

Designed using Heptares’ structure-based drug design platform, the drug candidate selectively triggers the M4 receptor activity in the brain to potentially provide an improved safety profile.

The double-blind, randomised Phase I trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of single and multiple doses of oral HTL0016878 in approximately 106 healthy volunteers.

Preliminary results from the trial are expected to be available in the first half of next year.

"The target selectivity we can build into molecules increasingly highlights the potential of our approach to create new medicines with significantly improved clinical profiles for addressing a range of diseases."

Heptares Therapeutics chief medical officer Tim Tasker said: “The start of this new clinical trial marks the progression of the fourth compound designed by Heptares into clinical studies and follows the advancing clinical studies with selective M1 agonists under our partnership with Allergan.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

“The target selectivity we can build into molecules increasingly highlights the potential of our approach to create new medicines with significantly improved clinical profiles for addressing a range of diseases.”

Allergan holds exclusive rights to Heptares’ range of new subtype-selective muscarinic receptor agonists, under a global research and development (R&D) and commercialisation alliance formed last year.

The portfolio of muscarinic receptor agonists is being developed to treat major neurological disorders.

Aside from HTL0016878, the firms are planning to assess selective M1 agonists for treatment of symptomatic cognitive deficits due to Alzheimer’s, and dual M1 / M4 agonists to treat cognitive and neurobehavioural symptoms.