Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Announces Positive Preliminary Results of Its Ongoing Phase 2B Study Comparing Tc99m Tilmanocept Imaging with Histopathology of Joints from Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Navidea Biopharmaceuticals announced preliminary results from its NAV3-32 Phase 2B study regarding Tc99m tilmanocept imaging in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The data from 11 patients indicate that Tc99m tilmanocept uptake correlates with macrophage involvement in joint inflammation, allowing differentiation between fibroid and other RA pathotypes. This study aims to establish the imaging's relationship to RA pathobiology and facilitate better therapy decisions. A business update conference call is scheduled for April 20, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. (EDT).
- Preliminary results indicate Tc99m tilmanocept uptake corresponds with macrophage involvement in rheumatoid arthritis, supporting the hypothesis.
- Ability to differentiate between fibroid and other RA pathotypes could lead to improved treatment personalization.
- Study could pave the way for FDA qualification of CD206 as a biomarker for RA.
- Preliminary data is still unverified and needs further analysis for conclusive results.
- The ongoing need to enroll additional patients could delay final study outcomes.
Data support hypothesis that Tc99m tilmanocept imaging can differentiate fibroid pathotype of rheumatoid arthritis from non-fibroid pathotypes
The primary objective of this study is to assess the relationship between joint-specific tilmanocept uptake values and the pathobiology of RA-involved joint tissue. This is being accomplished by taking biopsy samples from joints of patients with RA following imaging with Tc99m tilmanocept. The images are being evaluated using Navidea’s proprietary imaging analysis method to determine the amount of Tc99m tilmanocept uptake in the joint to be biopsied. The biopsy tissues are being evaluated by a pathologist using immunohistochemical (“IHC”) staining to determine the cellular composition, including macrophage content, in the inflammatory tissue of the RA-involved joint. The cellular composition of RA-inflamed joints is known to vary between patients and is frequently separated into one of three pathotypes termed fibroid, diffuse myeloid, and lympho-myeloid. Knowledge of an individual RA patient’s pathotype may be clinically important because it may predict to which RA therapy a patient is likely to respond. It is Navidea’s hypothesis that the imaging signal will correlate with the number and density of activated macrophages in the joints of RA patients, and that this imaging signal can provide important information about not only the disease status of the patient, but also indicate which pathotype of RA that the patient has. Enrollment is to continue until a minimum of four patients of each of the three pathotypes- fibroid, diffuse myeloid, and lympho-myeloid- have been enrolled and had both assessable imaging and biopsy performed.
At the current time, a total of eleven patients have had Tc99m tilmanocept imaging followed by synovial tissue biopsy in an inflamed joint of their hands or wrists. Quantitative image analysis was performed prior to biopsy. Image analyses conducted before the biopsies has been able to separate the subjects into at least 2 distinct and nonoverlapping classes of subjects. Seven of the subjects had relatively lower levels of Tc99m tilmanocept uptake. All seven of these subjects were found to have the fibroid pathotype. Of the remaining 4 subjects, 3 had the diffuse myeloid pathotype and 1 had the lympho-myeloid pathotype. Furthermore, those subjects with either the diffuse myeloid or lympho-myeloid pathotypes had, on average, more than 3 times more Tc99m tilmanocept uptake as the average subject with the fibroid pathotype. The pathologist who evaluated these biopsies was blinded to the imaging results prior to completing their report. These early results support the hypothesis that those patients with low levels of Tc99m tilmanocept localization in their hand and wrist joints have the fibroid pathotype of RA, and those with higher levels of localization are representative of one of the other two pathotypes.
Dr.
The Company will hold a business update conference call today,
To participate in the first call and webcast, please refer to the information below:
Event: Navidea Business Update – Company Strategy and Clinical Update
Date:
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Webcast Link: https://www.webcast-eqs.com/navidbioph20220420/en
A live audio webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations page of Navidea’s corporate website at www.navidea.com. In addition, the recorded conference call can be replayed and will be available for 90 days following the call on Navidea’s website.
RA is a chronic disease affecting over 1.3 million Americans and as much as
1. https://www.rheumatoidarthritis.org/ra/facts-and-statistics/
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