Akagera Medicines, a Rwandan biotech company has announced promising results after completing early stages of preclinical trials of an antibiotic drug for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). In an announcement on Tuesday, April 1, Akagera Medicines said it has completed early-stages of its preclinical trials of AKG-100, a new antibiotic drug in the oxazolidinone class, designed to treat pulmonary TB. ALSO READ: Rwanda signs host agreement for African pharmaceutical foundation The study focused on establishing the safety and pharmacokinetics of AKG-100 alone in single doses in healthy volunteers and pulmonary TB patients as well as in multiple doses in pulmonary TB patients. It was conducted at TASK clinical research site in Cape Town, South Africa, and it is still going on, with approximately 100 participants expected to be enrolled. ALSO READ: Akagera Medicines secures $1.5m to improve access The company, which has laboratories in Boston and San Francisco, USA, in addition to a 100 percent-owned subsidiary registered in Kigali to do manufacturing and clinical trials in the future, focused on the discovery and development of novel lipid nanoparticle formulations of antibacterial drugs and mRNA vaccines to treat tuberculosis, avian flu, RSV and other infectious diseases. “The completion of the first cohort in this study is an important milestone as we progress a novel long-acting injectable and targeted treatment option for patients with pulmonary TB, said Dr. Daryl Drummond, Chief Science Officer of AKAGERA Medicines. AKG-100 demonstrated promising preclinical data, and we believe that the addition of AKG-100 to drug-resistant TB treatment regimens will improve anti-TB activity and provide a favourable safety profile, he noted. Experts at the company referred to AKG-100 as a “highly stabilized” pegylated liposomal formulation of a novel oxazolidinone antibiotic. Liposome-encapsulated drugs are a promising area of drug delivery research that involves the use of microscopic lipid-based vesicles to transport drugs to target cells or tissues. “The AKG-100 liposome encapsulated formulation enhances drug efficacy by increasing drug stability, improving drug solubility, and reducing toxicity,” said Dr. Sachin Marulkar, the Chief Medical Officer of Akagera Medicines. The researchers also said that AKG-100 increases drug uptake and retention by target cells and leads to higher drug concentrations at the site of action. Liposomes protect drugs from degradation, clearance, or immune recognition, and allow for sustained drug release and longer circulation times.
