Adjuvant Therapy

Collectively, many of the indications New Amsterdam Sciences are pursuing have underlying molecular complexities and cannot be optimally managed with a single approved drug. For example, there are multiple drugs in development to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, but none, including those already approved, target a singular, pivotal mechanism to treat this lethal condition. We believe our candidates can provide adjuvant benefits to many of these potential treatments, resulting in overall patient benefit and reduction in disease symptoms.

Most illness and disease are not caused by a single metabolic or genetic lesion but rather represent the altered responses of many detailed, interacting and redundant molecular pathways within the complex human body. And most diseases exhibit multiple symptoms, also enlisting many physiologic processes. In these situations (as opposed to those caused by a single gene mutation that can be addressed through attempts to modify that gene’s expression or function) there are typically a number of therapeutic approaches that can, and generally are, exploited as treatments.

As an example, there are many drugs under development for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis which target individual molecules identified as being involved in the disease process, even as research continues to attempt to better define what might be an underlying cause. Also, the manifestations of diseases can be targeted, as is chronic cough in IPF, or muscle tremor in Parkinson’s Disease.

As in cancer, where the concept of adjuvant therapies is well accepted (e.g., coordinated courses of chemotherapy and radiation, or tumor excision followed by chemotherapy and/or radiation), many patients are best treated by a combination of therapies against both a directly attributable defect and symptoms (such as taking antivirals and decongestants for a cold or influenza).

Our goal is to develop our lead compound, NAS150, currently positioned for Phase 2 clinical trials, and demonstrate is can be an efficacious stand-alone treatment for the targeted indications, as well as have it be available as part of the armamentarium of therapies to bring to bear in these diseases, and thus with these other therapies help to make more patients better, faster.