Proteon Therapeutics' Vonapanitase Evaluated in Symptomatic PAD Patients

October 12, 2015—Proteon Therapeutics, Inc. announced that results from its phase 1 study of investigational vonapanitase in patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD) were presented at TCT 2015, the 27th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation being held October 11-15 in San Francisco, California. The results were presented by the study’s Principal Investigator Christopher D. Owens, MD, associate professor of the Surgery Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, California.

According to the company, the study evaluated the safety and technical feasibility of a single treatment of vonapanitase via a drug-delivery catheter to atherosclerotic human arteries following successful angioplasty. The study met its stated objectives, as data indicated that catheter-based treatment with vonapanitase was generally well-tolerated and technically feasible. Based on these results, Proteon plans to continue clinical investigation of vonapanitase in PAD in 2016.

The open-label, single-center phase 1, dose-escalation study enrolled 14 patients being treated with balloon angioplasty for symptomatic PAD of the superficial femoral or popliteal artery. Immediately after successful angioplasty, vonapanitase was delivered to the arterial wall using an endovascular microinfusion catheter.

Dr. Owens commented in the company’s press release, “There is a significant, unmet medical need to improve results in patients with symptomatic PAD. The safety and technical feasibility results of this phase 1 study are encouraging, and merit further study of vonapanitase in patients with PAD, to explore whether vonapanitase will demonstrate efficacy in the improvement of PAD.”