Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American

biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat serious conditions associated with cystic fibrosis,

inflammation Inflammation (from la, wikt:en:inflammatio#Latin, inflammatio) is part of the complex biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or Irritation, irritants, and is a protective response involving im ...

and

autoimmune diseases An autoimmune disease is a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a functioning body part. At least 80 types of autoimmune diseases have been identified, with some evidence suggesting that there may be more than 100 types. Nearly a ...

. Liprotamase (Sollpura), Anthera's leading drug candidate which is being developed for exocrine pancreatic insufficiency ( EPI) is currently in Phase 3 clinical trials, and A-623 ( Blisibimod) for the treatment of

IgA nephropathy IgA nephropathy (IgAN), also known as Berger's disease () (and variations), or synpharyngitic glomerulonephritis, is a disease of the kidney (or nephropathy) and the immune system; specifically it is a form of glomerulonephritis or an inflammati ...

is currently in Phase 2 clinical trial.

Products

Blisibimod

* Blisibimod is a selective peptibody antagonist of

B-cell activating factor B-cell activating factor (BAFF) also known as tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily member 13B and CD257 among other names, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TNFSF13B'' gene. BAFF is also known as B Lymphocyte Stimulator (BLyS) an ...

(BAFF). BAFF is critical to the development, maintenance and survival of B-cells, but is known to be up-regulated in

. It is primarily expressed by

macrophages Macrophages (abbreviated as M φ, MΦ or MP) ( el, large eaters, from Greek ''μακρός'' (') = large, ''φαγεῖν'' (') = to eat) are a type of white blood cell of the immune system that engulfs and digests pathogens, such as cancer ce ...

monocytes Monocytes are a type of leukocyte or white blood cell. They are the largest type of leukocyte in blood and can differentiate into macrophages and conventional dendritic cells. As a part of the vertebrate innate immune system monocytes also infl ...

and

dendritic cells Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells (also known as ''accessory cells'') of the mammalian immune system. Their main function is to process antigen material and present it on the cell surface to the T cells of the immune system. The ...

. Blisibimod binds to BAFF and inhibits the interaction of BAFF with its receptors. Blisibimod is currently being evaluated in IgA nephropathy.

Sollpura

July 2014, Anthera acquired Sollpura (Liprotamase) from

Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 countries. The company was founded in 1876 by, and named after, Colonel ...

. Sollpura is an investigational

pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy Pancreatic enzymes, also known as pancreases or pancrelipase and pancreatin, are commercial mixtures of amylase, Pancreatic lipase family, lipase, and protease. They are used to treat malabsorption syndrome due to certain Exocrine pancreatic insu ...

(PERT) that uses three biotechnology-derived digestive enzymes intended to treat patients with endocrine pancreatic insufficiency as a result of

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. O ...

and other diseases. Sollpura narrowly missed its target for Phase 3 of its clinical trials. It believes that specific conditions in the testing phase, specifically that patients were not able to increase dosages throughout the trial, negatively affected testing and led to the narrow shortcoming for Phase 3. It will conduct a new trial compensating for the perceived shortcoming at some point in the future.

References

External links

Official website
{{Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Companies based in Hayward, California Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Health care companies based in California