| May 14th, 2002 |
Kyowa Hakko to Begin Clinical Phase II Trials in the U.S. and Europe |
Tokyo, May 14, 2002 - (JCN Newswire) - Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. this month started clinical phase II trials of KW-7158, a treatment for urinary incontinence, following positive results from the clinical pharmacological study carried out in France from June last year. These results support very encouraging preclinical data obtained in animal studies. Originally developed by Kyowa Hakko, KW-7158 is intended to prevent the sense of urgency, urinary frequency and incontinence caused by overactive bladder contractions by uniquely acting on the peripheral sensory nerves to control bladder activities. KW-7158 is expected to have reduced side effects compared with anticholinergic drugs, which are currently used to treat urinary incontinence. Anticholinergic drugs have well known side effects such as dry mouth, urinary retention, blurred vision and more. Kyowa Hakko considers KW-7158 to be a promising new treatment and is actively pursuing its development. "We are very excited about the development of KW-7158. It*s a compound with a totally new mechanism and the results we have obtained from the clinical pharmacological tests have been very positive," said Hiroyuki Kuniyasu, executive officer of pharmaceuticals research & development at the Pharmaceuticals business of Kyowa Hakko. In recent years, as the proportion of elderly people has grown in countries around the world, the number of incontinence sufferers has grown rapidly. There are said to be more than 2.4 million sufferers in Japan and a total 20 million sufferers in Japan, the US and Europe.
|
