Translational strategies in drug development for knee osteoarthritis. Issue 6 (June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cowan, Kyra J.; Kleinschmidt-Dörr, Kerstin; Gigout, Anne; Moreau, Flavie; Kraines, Jeff; Townsend, Robert; Dolgos, Hugues; DeMartino, Julie
• Is Part Of: Drug discovery today. Volume 25:Issue 6(2020)
• Page Start: 1054
• Page End: 1064
• Publication Date: 2020-06
• Subjects: Drugs -- Design -- Periodicals; Drugs -- Research -- Periodicals; 615.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2020.03.015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6446

Abstract

Highlights: Osteoarthritis (OA) patients are in need of new, disease-modifying drugs. Disease-modifying OA drugs could target cartilage repair or degradation pathways. Development of intra-articular OA drugs is associated with unique challenges. OA drug candidate dosing strategy is defined regardless of administration route. Abstract : Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common disease worldwide with large unmet medical needs. To bring innovative treatments to OA patients, we at Merck have implemented a comprehensive strategy for drug candidate evaluation. We have a clear framework for decision-making in our preclinical pipeline, to design our clinical proof-of-concept trials for OA patients. We have qualified our strategy to define and refine dose and dosing regimen, for treatments administered either systemically or intra-articularly (IA). We do this through preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, and by back-translating results from clinical studies in OA patients.