Zydus announced the initiation of a phase II trial investigating ZYAN1, an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI), as a treatment for anaemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD).

ZYAN1 is an oral small molecule that has been designed to inhibit hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase, and thereby increase the natural production of haemoglobin and RBCs in anaemic patients.

ZYAN1 has been shown to improve iron mobilisation and has the potential to reduce or eliminate the need for iron supplementation. "We have observed desired pharmacokinetic and safety profile in addition to positive signals in biomarker responses, including erythropoietin increase with ZYAN1 in the two phase I trials that were conducted in Australia and India," said, Pankaj Patel, CMD, Zydus Cadila.

Patel added, "ZYAN1 has the potential to bring about a paradigm shift in the management of patients with anaemia as it could provide an oral, safer alternative to currently available erythropoietin-stimulating agents (ESAs), which are associated with an increased risk of CV events, and must be given via injections. Zydus is committed to bring this therapy to millions of patients suffering from anaemia".

Two phase I trials of ZYAN1 have been concluded in Australia and India, and results were recently published in Clinical Pharmacokinetics. ZYAN1 was safe and well-tolerated in healthy volunteers following single escalating oral doses (10–300 mg) and multiple escalating oral doses (100–300 mg). The measurement of serum erythropoietin (EPO) levels in healthy volunteers confirmed the pharmacodynamic effect as EPO increased with increasing ZYAN1 doses in relation to placebo.