Recent study shows BioCity’s potential to differentiate in kidney disease space

BioCity Biopharma recently announced positive results from the ongoing 2-SUCCEED trial. The use of SC0062 resulted in a clinically meaningful and statistically significant reduction in proteinuria in patients with immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy (IgAN). The ageing global population will lead to an increase in the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), leading to an expansion of the market as well as a growing need for more therapeutic options. The study could be of high clinical value to nephrologists who are seeking an optimal treatment of choice for IgAN patients, which highlights that BioCity holds the potential to differentiate in CKD, says GlobalData.

SC0062 is an endothelin 1 receptor antagonist. 2-SUCCEED is an ongoing, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II trial to assess the safety and efficacy of SC0062 for CKD. The results showed that SC0062 met the primary endpoint of reducing proteinuria in IgAN patients. Edema was not observed in SC0062-treated patients. Additionally, for participants who were on a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor in the trial, the combination of SC0062 and an SGLT2 inhibitor had a favourable safety profile.

Kajal Jaddoo, Senior Pharma Analyst, GlobalData, comments, “Key opinion leaders (KOLs) interviewed by GlobalData have mentioned that a drug that specifically shows enhanced efficacy in CKD patients will most likely receive breakthrough or fast-track designations and gain market share.”

China-based BioCity is a biotechnology research company that develops biological mechanisms in the fields of tumour signal transduction pathways and cellular immune responses for tumours and CKD.

Jaddoo concludes, “According to GlobalData’s Drug Database, there are four endothelin 1 receptor antagonists in development for CKD: AstraZeneca’s zibotentan + dapagliflozin combination in Phase III, BioCity’s SC0062 in Phase II, Gmax BioPharm’s GMA-131 in preclinical, and Asahi Kasei’s endothelin A receptor antagonist in preclinical.”