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Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common, debilitating, chronic disease with no disease-modifying drug approved to date. We discovered LNA043—a derivative of angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3)—as a potent chondrogenesis inducer using a phenotypic screen with human mesenchymal stem cells. We show that LNA043 promotes chondrogenesis and cartilage matrix synthesis in vitro and regenerates hyaline articular cartilage in preclinical OA and cartilage injury models in vivo. LNA043 exerts at least part of these effects through binding to the fibronectin receptor, integrin α5β1 on mesenchymal stem cells and chondrocytes. In a first-in-human (phase 1), randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, single ascending dose, single-center trial (NCT02491281; sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals), 28 patients with knee OA were injected intra-articularly with LNA043 or placebo (3:1 ratio) either 2 h, 7 d or 21 d before total knee replacement. LNA043 met its primary safety endpoint and showed short serum pharmacokinetics, cartilage penetration and a lack of immunogenicity (secondary endpoints). Post-hoc transcriptomics profiling of cartilage revealed that a single LNA043 injection reverses the OA transcriptome signature over at least 21 d, inducing the expression of hyaline cartilage matrix components and anabolic signaling pathways, while suppressing mediators of OA progression. LNA043 is a novel disease-modifying OA drug candidate that is currently in a phase 2b trial (NCT04864392) in patients with knee OA.

BackgroundIL-17A is a key driver of human autoimmune diseases, particularly psoriasis.ObjectiveWe sought to determine the role of IL-17A in psoriasis pathogenesis and to identify a robust and measurable biomarker of IL-17A–driven pathology.MethodsWe studied 8 healthy subjects and 8 patients with psoriasis before and after administration of secukinumab, a fully human anti–IL-17A mAb, and used a combination of classical techniques and a novel skin microperfusion assay to evaluate the expression of 170 proteins in blood, nonlesional skin, and lesional skin. For validation, we also tested stored sera from 601 patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases.ResultsIL-17A was specifically expressed in lesional compared with nonlesional psoriatic skin (9.8 vs 0.8 pg/mL, P

Objective To evaluate the cardiac and pulmonary effects of siponimod (BAF312) and propranolol co-administration in healthy subjects. Methods Healthy subjects (n=76) were randomized in a doubleblind manner to receive propranolol at siponimod steady state (group A), siponimod at propranolol steady state (group B), placebo (group C) and propranolol (group D). Pharmacodynamic evaluations included maximum change from baseline in time-matched hourly average heart rate (Emax HR) and mean arterial blood pressure (Emax MABP) over 24 hours postdose, change from baseline in PR intervals, cardiac rhythm, and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). Pharmacokinetic and safety parameters were also assessed. Results Siponimod and propranolol when administered alone resulted in similar HR decrease at steady state. Compared to propranolol alone, the combination at steady state had an additional 6.21 bpm (95%CI: 2.32, 10.11) decrease of mean EmaxHR, a decrease of 5.04 bpm (0.52, 9.56) for group A and 7.39 bpm (2.87, 11.90) for group B. A minor decrease in MABP and a trend towards PR interval increase were noted with co-administration treatment vs. propranolol alone. There were no episodes of second-degree atrioventricular blocks or sinus pauses>3 seconds. Baseline-corrected FEV1 was reduced by -0.07 L (95% CI: -0.17, 0.03) for group A and -0.05 L (-0.15, 0.05) for group B vs. propranolol alone. There were no cardiovascular adverse events during coadministration treatment. Conclusions Coadministration of siponimod and propranolol was well tolerated. Bradyarrhythmic effects were less pronounced when propranolol was added to siponimod steady-state therapy compared with siponimod addition to propranolol.