..Author: Gabriella Hold

As September draws to a close, we’d like to look back on Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month.

While the world has changed immensely in 2020, the need to develop a better treatment for pulmonary fibrosis remains as acute as ever.

In commemoration of the month, we’d like to share this 2017 blog post with Specialist Respiratory and Transplant Physician, Dr Glen Westall.

Associate Professor Glen Westall has worked in the field of lung fibrosis for more than 15 years, published over 70 original research manuscripts and co-authored 8 book chapters in the field of lung fibrosis and lung transplantation.

Yet despite his extensive knowledge about the disease, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) can still surprise him.

“Medical text books suggest that most diseases behave similarly, however the human experience tells us otherwise,” said Assoc. Prof Westall.

“Some patients with IPF can be stable for decades, whilst others often have a very aggressive disease that deteriorates rapidly.”

A highly regarded specialist based at The Alfred, Assoc. Prof. Westall’s interest in lung fibrosis was sparked more than 15 years ago when he worked in London as a registrar in the Royal Brompton Hospital’s Lung Fibrosis service under two giants in the field, Prof Ron du Bois and Prof Athol Wells.

“Back then, we had no treatments for IPF, we were heavily involved with clinical trials, recognising that without treatment, IPF was a progressive and typically fatal condition.

“We are entering an exciting era for lung fibrosis. We now have two antifibrotic agents, Nintedanib and Perfenidone that are available in Australia. More importantly, there are a large number of phase 1 and phase 2 studies running or in the pipeline evaluating new antifibrotic agents”

“Whilst we are making progress, there remains much work that still needs to be done in understanding IPF, both at a patient and a scientific level.”

Our CEO Tim Oldham was recently interviewed by the Australian Shareholders Association about his passion for life sciences and how he came to build his career in the sector, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and the clinical development of lead candidate, AD-214

AdAlta Limited (ASX: 1AD) is pleased to announce that Dr Tim Oldham will present at the IRD Invest virtual investor conference on Wednesday, 29 July 2020 at – 11:30 am AEST. Dr Time Oldham will provide an update on the recent developments and future plans at AdAlta.

The event is free to attend and investors are invited to register, ahead of time via the following link:

https://www.irdepartment.com.au/site/irdinvest

Once the registration form is completed, investors will receive a confirmation email with detail on how to access the briefing.

AdAlta recently achieved a transformational milestone, with ethics approval of our phase I human trial for lead candidate AD-214 marking our successful transition to a clinical stage biotechnology company.

The approval is the first independent review of our complete pre-clinical development package and confirms that we have completed all the necessary safety and efficacy testing to support progressing the development of AD-214 into human clinical studies, a milestone that the AdAlta team has been working towards for many years.

Our CEO Dr Tim Oldham says that ethics approval is a “coming of age moment”, and notes the milestone is important for three reasons.

“It validates the quality of the work we have done to date on AD-214, it proves that we can develop a drug all the way from discovery through to clinical stage, and this study will help validate our entire platform,” he says.

“I’m incredibly proud of this achievement and incredibly grateful to everyone who has been involved on our journey so far and to those who will be involved in our study as we work towards improving outcomes for those patients suffering the debilitating effects of ILD and IPF.”

For more information on the significance of ethics approval, watch the video interview with Dr Oldham here.

Our announcement on ethics approval was also featured in online financial news outlet, The Sentiment. You can read the article here.

About the phase I study of AD-214

The first subject in the phase I study is expected to receive AD-214 in the second half of July and top-line safety results from the healthy volunteers are expected to be available at the beginning of CY2021.

Subject to satisfactory completion of Part A of the trial, initiation of Parts B and C of the trial in patients with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD), including patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), is expected early in 2021. The primary end point of the trial is safety and tolerability of AD-214. The trial is not designed to show evidence of efficacy against ILD or IPF.

Our CEO, Dr Tim Oldham discusses the significance of AdAlta becoming a clinical stage company, as well as the aims of the Phase I trial of AD-214, the importance of developing therapies for fibrotic diseases and the significant pharma interest in therapies for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Watch the video here