Sequella initiates dosing in Phase Ib tuberculosis trial

Sequella, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, has started its Phase Ib trial for SQ109 with the dosing of the first cohort of volunteers. The Phase Ib study will assess safety, pharmacokinetics and tolerability of multiple ascending doses of SQ109 in three cohorts of healthy volunteers.

The SQ109 Phase Ib trial is being conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, through a contract awarded to Dynport. The investigative site is the Quintiles Phase I facility in Overland Park, Kansas.

According to Sequella, SQ109, a new diamine antibiotic intended to replace one or more of the current first-line antitubercular drugs and simplify patient therapy, shows superior antibacterial activity against drug sensitive and both multi-drug resistant and extensively-drug resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis.

Carol Nacy, CEO of Sequella, said: We are pleased to begin this Phase Ib safety trial and to continue the clinical development of SQ109, a potentially valuable new drug candidate for the treatment of both uncomplicated and drug resistant tuberculosis.

In a global world, the safety assessment of a new drug candidate with the antitubercular properties of SQ109 is an important milestone for patients on every continent, including North America.