Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals (CUV) is expanding its clinical programme to test Scensse’s ability to repair skin cells damaged by sun exposure
- This will generate clinical data on the safety and efficacy of Scensse by incorporating patients with rare inherited genetic disorders
- The programmes will include patients with XP-V and XP-C, which are characterised by high sensitivity to sunlight and a high subsequent susceptibility to associated skin cancers
- Clinuvel’s chief scientific officer says Scensse’s active ingredient — Afamelanotide — has been shown to protect skin from UV rays and repair photodamage
- Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals is down 1.50 per cent following the announcement, trading at $28.21 per share
Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals (CUV) is expanding its clinical programme to test Scensse’s ability to repair skin cells damaged by sun exposure.
The drug, which has been approved by Therapeutic Goods Administration, is typically administered to prevent phototoxicity in adult patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria, a rare metabolic disorder.
Having reached an agreement with clinical and academic experts, Clinuvel is set to generate clinical data on the safety and efficacy of Scensse.
More specifically, this latest expansion to Clinuvel’s clinical programme will include patients with the rare inherited disorders XP-V and XP-C, which are characterised by an extreme sensitivity to sunlight and subsequent skin cancers.
According to Clinuvel’s chief scientific officer Dr Dennis Wright, Scensse’s active ingredient — Afamelanotide — has been shown to protect skin from UV rays and repair photodamage.
“XP patients are at extreme risk of cancer – up to 10,000 times that of the general population – due to their inability to repair damage caused by UV and sunlight, known as photodamage,” he explained.
Scensse is said to improve the function of skin cells which incurred such damage and assist cells in repairing DNA through several mechanisms.
“We are now working to confirm this concept with both XP and patients and healthy volunteers,” he commented.
The company has not provided any further information regarding first results this year, pandemic permitting.
Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals is down 1.50 per cent following the announcement, trading at $28.21 per share at 1:22 pm AEDT.
