Pipeline
Lead Candidate: SP-101
Our lead drug candidate is SP-101, which is a conjugate of dexamethasone with an HPMA copolymer with optimized targeted delivery only to sites of inflammation. Dexamethasone is a glucocorticoid with proven effectiveness in rheumatoid arthritis. However, guidelines encourage clinicians to limit dose and duration of glucocorticoid use due to the risk of serious systemic side effects. Nonclinical efficacy studies with a rodent collagen induced arthritis (CIA) model conducted at a contract research organization has established robust efficacy of SP-101 that is absent the expected hallmark systemic side effects seen with daily oral usage of dexamethasone.
The HPMA polymer has been used for many years in orthopedic implants and studied for decades as a drug carrier due to its apparent biocompatibility and safety. To date, the main limitation to the use of HPMA delivery systems has been related to the inability to develop commercially scalable manufacturing techniques. However, an early pharmaceutical company partnership has allowed Savina to develop scalable methods and perfect the optimization of our drug platform to the relevant disease state that can take SP-101 and other platform drug candidates into the clinic.