Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held pharmaceutical company based in Madison, WI,
announced today the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical study of their lead osteoporosis compound,
2MD. The study is expected to demonstrate that 2MD can safely improve bone mineral density in
postmenopausal women.
The study will be conducted in postmenopausal women with low bone mineral density at eight
clinical sites throughout the United States. The Osteoporosis Clinical Center and Research
Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of the participating centers.
2MD, also known as DP001, is a novel vitamin D analog discovered in the laboratory of Hector
DeLuca, a professor and researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The compound has
been found to induce new bone formation in animal models of osteoporosis. Previous clinical
studies have uniformly demonstrated that the compound is safe and well tolerated, resulting in
changes in bone biomarkers consistent with the formation of new bone.
“We are very pleased to announce the initiation of this study of 2MD,” said Hector Deluca, who is
also president and CEO of Deltanoid. “There is a medical need for a safe, orally active bone
formation agent to treat osteoporosis. The preclinical and clinical data argue compellingly that
2MD will be such a compound.”
About Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis, which occurs frequently in postmenopausal women, elderly women and persons
taking corticosteroids, is a disease caused by the loss of normal bone that results in susceptibility
to fractures. At present, treatments for osteoporosis rely primarily on anti-resorptive agents,
which aim to reduce the loss of bone, but cannot induce new bone formation. The new bone
formation agents that have been recently introduced in the U.S. are administered by injection only
and have limited indication in terms of patient population and treatment duration. There is
therefore a growing demand for an orally active bone formation agent to treat osteoporosis, which
currently affects some 10 million people in the United States, with an additional 34 million at risk.
The current global market for osteoporosis is estimated at greater than $7 billion and is growing
as the population ages.
About Deltanoid
Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a pharmaceutical company engaged in the research,
development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of diseases including
osteoporosis, bone diseases of kidney failure, psoriasis, autoimmune diseases and cancers. The
company began operations in 2001 to advance the development of selected patented vitamin D
compounds developed at the UW-Madison and licensed from the Wisconsin Alumni Research
Foundation.