Altus gastrointestinal, endocrine news
Altus will restructure and reduce headcount by 100 (75%) to about 35 to focus on ALTU-238 to treat growth hormone deficiency (GHD). The subcutaneous long-acting formulation of somatropin recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) has completed a Phase II trial in adult patients and will enter a Phase II trial in pediatric patients this quarter.
The company said its limited cash resources only allow support of a single clinical development program. Altus will discontinue development of Trizytek liprotamase (formerly ALTU-135) to treat malabsorption due to exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. In August, Altus said Trizytek met the primary endpoint of a significant improvement in fat absorption compared with placebo in a Phase III trial, but the results fell short of the main criterion agreed upon with FDA in an SPA (see BioCentury, Aug. 18, 2008). ...