Jaguar Health, Inc. announced 28-day preclinical toxicology and safety study in dogs

SAN FRANCISCO: Jaguar Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAGX) ("Jaguar" or the "Company") announced today that the 28-day preclinical toxicology and safety study in dogs began today, January 6, 2021, to support the development of lechlemer, the second generation, plant-based anti-secretory drug candidate of Napo Pharmaceuticals ("Napo"), Jaguar's wholly-owned subsidiary, for the symptomatic relief of diarrhea from cholera.

As previously announced, Napo is receiving preclinical services from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ("NIAID") to support lechlemer development. Under NIAID's suite of preclinical services, NIAID-funded contractors are conducting the 28-day dog study. NIAID is part of the National Institutes of Health.

"We are grateful for NIAID's support to conduct this important 28-day toxicity and safety study in dogs, which is expected to support the Investigational New Drug (IND) application we plan to file for lechlemer," stated Steven King, PhD, Jaguar's chief of sustainable supply, ethnobotanical research and IP. "As previously announced, a 28-day preclinical toxicology study in rats to support lechlemer development for the symptomatic relief of diarrhea from cholera was initiated in July of last year. Under NIAID's suite of preclinical services, NIAID-funded contractors also conducted the initial 7-day dog and rat toxicology studies, and completion of these shorter studies allowed for initiation of the longer-term, 28-day, IND-enabling toxicity studies."

The Company believes that lechlemer, which has the same mechanism of action as crofelemer and is significantly less costly to produce, may support development efforts to receive a priority review voucher from the FDA for an indication for the symptomatic relief of diarrhea from cholera. Priority review vouchers are granted by the FDA as an incentive to develop treatments for neglected diseases and rare pediatric diseases. Priority review vouchers are transferable and, in past transactions by other companies, have sold for prices ranging from $67 million to $350 million. Additionally, the Company believes lechlemer represents a long-term pipeline opportunity as a second-generation anti-secretory agent, on a global basis, for multiple gastrointestinal diseases - especially in resource-constrained countries, in part, because requirements often exist in such regions for drug prices to decrease annually.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, an estimated 3?5 million cholera cases and more than 100,000 cholera-related deaths occur each year around the world. The infection is often mild or without symptoms but can sometimes be severe. Approximately one in 10 of infected persons will have severe disease characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these people, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours. The largest cholera outbreak in recorded history recently occurred in Yemen. According to Oxfam, the number of cholera cases in Yemen in 2019 was the second largest ever recorded in a country in a single year, surpassed only by the numbers in Yemen in 2017. According to the Brookings Institution, cholera continues to spread in Yemen, with 180,000 new cases reported in the first eight months of 2020.

Lechlemer is a drug candidate under the botanical guidance of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). It is a standardized and proprietary Napo botanical extract that is distinct from Mytesi® (crofelemer), the Company's FDA-approved drug product. Lechlemer is sustainably derived from the same source as Mytesi: the Croton lechleri tree.

The Company has previously presented Phase 2 data on crofelemer for the treatment of devastating dehydration in cholera patients from the renowned International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b) in Bangladesh. Napo plans to follow the same study design for lechlemer.

About Jaguar Health, Inc. and Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Jaguar Health, Inc. is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, plant-based, non-opioid, and sustainably derived prescription medicines for people and animals with GI distress, specifically chronic, debilitating diarrhea. Our wholly owned subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., focuses on developing and commercializing proprietary plant-based human gastrointestinal pharmaceuticals from plants harvested responsibly from rainforest areas. Our Mytesi® (crofelemer) product is approved by the U.S. FDA for the symptomatic relief of noninfectious diarrhea in adults with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy and the only oral plant-based prescription medicine approved under FDA Botanical Guidance.

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