Janus Kinase (JAK) Inhibitors

Janus Kinase Inhibitors - JAK's have shown to be successful in a variety of different disease indications.  The science of these inhibitors is still in the early stages of understanding.   They operate by inhibiting one or more of the family of enzymes, (JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, TYK2), and interfering with the signaling pathway.  They have shown to be successful in cancer and inflammatory diseases to date.  Concert Pharmaceuticals currently owns patents for the following three deuterated JAK inhibitors, with indications that each has shown to be effective in, prior to the company adding deuterium to the entity.

D-Ruxolitinib
Selectivity: JAK1,2 
Indication:  Myelofibrosis, Polycythemia Vera, Alopecia Areata  
Patent: 2032 US

D-Baricitinib
Selectivity: JAK1,2, TYK2
Indication: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriasis
Patent: 2032 US

D-Momelotinib
Selectivity:  JAK1,2
Indication:
Patent: 2033 US

The non-deuterated versions of these JAK's have already shown proof-of-concept (POC), essentially reducing the risk for Concert to bring the drugs to market, for other or same, previously tested indications.  It's rare to have a full runway of patent years ahead, with clinically tested drugs, at your disposal. We'll follow the Janus Kinase landscape with any new findings in the future.  Thank you for reading. 

CTP-543 Phase 1 Initiated

Concert Pharmaceuticals has begun dosing in a phase 1 clinical trial with 80 healthy volunteers to assess safety and pharmacokinetics (PK).  From the company press release below.
“Alopecia Areata is a disease that can have devastating effects on patients but which currently lacks approved and effective therapies. We are pleased to broaden Concert’s pipeline of clinical drug candidates with the advancement of CTP-543 into clinical testing. CTP-543 is another example of how we have applied our novel deuterium platform to create medicines that represent new treatment options,” said Roger Tung, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Concert Pharmaceuticals. “Recent advances in our understanding of alopecia areata biology, combined with patient data from several investigator-initiated studies, give us confidence that CTP-543 has potential to be an effective treatment. We hope to move this program quickly through Phase 1 evaluation in order to initiate efficacy studies in patients with alopecia areata next year.”

Aclaris Therapeutics acquired the rights, Aclaris Pipeline of a JAK inhibitor, and this is the patent, WO2013149194A that Columbia University through Vixen Pharmaceuticals, sold the rights to Aclaris Therapeutics.

CTP-543 Patent: 2032
Ruxolitinib Patent: 2028

Thank you for reading.