Acorda Therapeutics has announced the enrollment of the first patient in a Phase 3 study of CVT-301 inhaled L-dopa for the treatment of OFF episodes in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study is expected to enroll about 345 patients.
CVT-301 was initially developed by Civitas Therapeutics which was acquired by Acorda earlier this year.
Acorda Chief Medical Officer Enrique Carrazana commented, “Parkinson’s is a debilitating neurological disease affecting over a million Americans, and as many as 10 million people worldwide. About 350,000 people with PD in the US experience OFF episodes, which can be exceptionally disruptive, impacting their lives on a daily basis, even multiple times per day. We believe CVT-301 has the potential to be an important treatment for people experiencing OFF episodes.”
Acorda Chief Technology Officer Rick Batycky said, “Oral L-dopa is the standard of care in reducing the symptoms of PD; however, significant challenges remain in creating an individualized treatment regimen that consistently maintains therapeutic effects as the disease progresses. CVT-301 uses our proprietary ARCUS technology to deliver L-dopa through the lungs. The ARCUS technology can deliver much larger doses than is possible with standard pulmonary technologies, making it ideal for delivery of medications such as L-dopa.”
Read the Acorda Therapeutics press release.
