Peripheral Artery Disease
Peripheral artery disease is the lead indication for ruvonoflast, our most advanced clinical program.
Peripheral artery disease, or PAD, is a cardiovascular disease that affects over 200 million people worldwide, and approximately 20 million adults in the United States. Most people with PAD have elevated levels of hsCRP, a blood-based biomarker of inflammation, despite current standards of care. There is no approved disease-modifying anti-inflammatory therapy for PAD.
People with PAD suffer progressive loss of blood supply to the legs as well as skeletal muscle dysfunction, which together can lead to the development of leg pain on walking, leg pain at rest, and eventually leg ulceration and, in some cases, the need for amputation.
NLRP3-driven inflammation plays a prominent role in the development and progression of PAD, from plaque formation and progression, to the development of microvascular disease and damage to tissues such as skeletal muscle.
Patients with PAD have been waiting for decades to see therapeutic development focus on their disease. With compelling clinical, preclinical, genetic, and translational data, NLRP3 inhibition has the potential to improve outcomes that matter to them.
Evidence from genetic, preclinical, translational and clinical research supports the critical role inflammation plays in PAD. In patients with PAD, inflammatory markers in the blood and affected arteries have been linked with more severe disease and greater difficulty walking. In clinical trials, drugs with anti-inflammatory activity (e.g., canakinumab, GLP-1 receptor agonists) have shown potential to improve walking distance.
Rezera is developing ruvonoflast as a novel approach to reducing residual inflammatory risk in PAD. We believe that intervening early in the course of PAD has the potential to improve symptoms, to improve quality of life, and, possibly, to slow the progression of disease.