On April 22, 2024 Azitra, Inc. (NYSE American: AZTR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies for precision dermatology, reported preclinical data from the Company’s platform and pipeline (Press release, Azitra, APR 22, 2024, View Source [SID1234642188]). The data will be presented on Friday, May 10, 2024, in two oral sessions entitled "Engineered Staphylococcus Epidermidis as a Protein Delivery System for Treating Skin Diseases" and "Staphylococcus epidermidis Strain Expressing LEKTI-D6 (ATR12-351) for Netherton Syndrome."
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"We are thrilled to announce new preclinical data for our precision dermatology platform that demonstrate proof-of-concept data supporting the use of genetically engineered skin commensals to deliver proteins to the skin," said Travis Whitfill, Azitra’s co-founder and COO. "These data show the robust preclinical activity of ATR-12 in Netherton syndrome models and further supports the rationale behind our Phase 1b clinical trial in Netherton syndrome patients."
ATR-12 is an engineered strain of S. epidermidis that expresses a fragment of human lympho-epithelial Kazal-type-related inhibitor (LEKTI) protein, which is missing in patients with Netherton syndrome, a chronic and sometimes fatal disease of the skin estimated to affect approximately one to nine in every 100,000. ATR-12 has been engineered to deliver missing LEKTI protein when applied topically to Netherton syndrome patients. Azitra has an open IND for a Phase 1b clinical trial in adult patients (NCT06137157).
The data in the abstracts released online today show that topical application of ATR-12 in preclinical models reduced produced reduced IL-36γ by 93% compared to skin extracts induced to overexpress IL-36γ. Additionally, topical application of ATR-12 significantly reduced protease activity in skin samples compared to a Netherton syndrome model skin (p<0.01). Finally, ATR-12 produced higher amounts of LEKTI compared to topical application of LEKTI protein alone (6.0 µg vs. 2.3 µg, respectively, p<0.01) after 24 hours and resulted in deeper skin penetration of LEKTI.