Adovate Awarded $800,000 by Virginia Catalyst for Phase 2 Clinical Trial of ADO-5030
ADO-5030 has the potential to transform the treatment of asthma.
Charlottesville, VA – January 9, 2024 – Adovate, LLC (“Adovate” or the “Company”), a pharmaceutical company developing drug candidates targeting the adenosine receptors, today announced its receipt of a grant award of $800,000 from the Virginia Catalyst, also known as the Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation, an organization supporting life and bioscience innovation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This prestigious award is to advance Adovate’s development of its lead drug candidate ADO-5030 as an oral treatment for asthma into Phase 2 clinical testing.
Under this grant, Adovate will collaborate with the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. ADO-5030 is a new generation adenosine 2B receptor (“A2BR”) antagonists designed to transform asthma treatment. It is expected to address the significant unmet medical needs in the up to 50% of asthmatic patients who have limited or no response to current first-line therapies and also provide an additional, and potentially more favorable, option for all asthma patients.
Under the scientific leadership of Dr. Larry Borish at the University of Virginia, Dr. Liwu Li at Virginia Tech, and Adovate’s Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Joel Linden, the project is focused on developing a novel therapeutic that could serve as a vital treatment option for this underserved patient population.
“We are honored to receive this highly competitive award from the Virginia Catalyst,” stated William Stilley, Chief Executive Officer at Adovate. “Adovate’s mission to develop novel, patentable, next generation molecules targeting specific adenosine receptors, promises to create significant advancements in treatments for asthma and other diseases. The Virginia Catalyst grant to Adovate will play a crucial role in our efforts to bring our innovative drug candidate, ADO-5030, to the patients who need it most.”
“Asthma is one of the leading causes of preventable death, and patients are in need of therapies with the promise of ADO-5030, especially those patients with non-T-2 asthma who do not respond well to corticosteroids, the current first-line therapy for asthma,” stated Dr. Borish, who is expected to be the Principal Investigator in the initial Phase 2 clinical studies of ADO-5030. “A2BR blockers such as theophylline and enprophylline have been shown to be effective against asthma, however the side effects and safety profiles of those drugs have limited their clinical utility and/or approvability. Based on the in vivo evidence to date, ADO-5030 is not expected to have these liabilities, and therefore bring a clinically meaningful benefit to asthma patients, potentially becoming the first-line therapy.”
About Asthma
Globally, asthma is a major disease affecting an estimated 262 million people and causing 455,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, and is the most common chronic disease amongst children (WHO 2023). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that approximately 25 million people in the Unites States alone had asthma, equaling 8% of adults aged 18 and older and about 6.5% of children and adolescents (CDC 2021). Asthma is divided into two primary forms, eosinophilic asthma (EA) and non- eosinophilic asthma (NEA), based on the presence of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, during the asthmatic response: EA is sometimes referred to as T-2 asthma due to its type 2 immunologic pathway response and NEA as low T-2/non-T-2 asthma. The Journal of Asthma and Allergy and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine have reported that up to 30% (possibly more) of asthma patients have NEA and that NEA is associated with a poor response to inhaled glucocorticoids/steroids, which are first-line therapy for asthma (J Asthma Allergy. 2018; Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2018). Theophylline, a non-selective adenosine blocker, is approved for asthma of all forms and has demonstrated a response in both EA and NEA but has limited clinical utility due to its numerous and sometimes serious side-effects. It is hypothesized that that a selective adenosine 2B antagonist (A2BR) may be an effective and more tolerable treatment for both EA and NEA.
About Adovate
Adovate is a biopharmaceutical company focused on inventing and developing best-in-class drug candidates targeting the adenosine receptors.
Forward Looking Statements
This communication contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such statements are based upon various facts and derived utilizing numerous important assumptions and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Statements preceded by, followed by or that otherwise include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “projects,” “estimates,” “plans” and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “may” and “could” are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts, although not all forward-looking statements include the foregoing. The forward-looking statements include statements regarding Adovate’s ability to advance its lead drug candidate ADO-5030 as an oral treatment for asthma into Phase 2 clinical testing, ADO-5030 being a new generation adenosine 2B receptor antagonist designed to transform asthma treatment, ADO-5030 addressing the unmet medical needs in the up to 50% of asthmatic patients who have limited or no response to current first line therapies, and ADO-5030 providing an additional and potentially more favorable option for current asthma treatments. Any forward-looking statements included herein reflect our current views, and they involve certain risks and uncertainties, including, among others, ADO-5030 developing into a novel therapeutic that could serve as a vital treatment option for the underserved patient population, Adovate’s ability to develop novel, patentable, next generation molecules targeting specific adenosine receptors which will create significant advancements in treatments for asthma and other diseases, the Virginia Catalyst grant playing a crucial role in Adovate’s efforts to bring ADO-5030 to patients who need it most, ADO-5030 not having the liabilities of A2BR blockers such as theophylline and enprophylline, ADO-5030 bringing clinically meaningful benefit to asthma patients and potentially becoming the first-line therapy, and Adovate inventing and developing best-in-class drug candidates targeting adenosine receptors. These risks should not be construed as exhaustive. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it was initially made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, unless required by law.
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