This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Nikki Johnston, co-founder of N-Zyme Biomedical.
The company is developing a new drug treatment for a lesser known form of acid reflux called laryngopharyngeal reflux, or LPR. It affects as many as 20% of Americans, according to figures provided by the business, and no medications currently exist to treat it.
Johnston emphasizes this “significant unmet clinical need” for patients with LPR, who don’t experience the same heartburn feeling as those with more typical gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.
“They suffer from chronic cough, hoarseness, globus — which is a sensation of something stuck in your throat — dysphagia, which is problems with swallowing,” she said. “But chronic LPR can also contribute to more life-threatening illnesses such as … laryngeal cancer.”
Treatments for GERD are ineffective at treating LPR, she explained. As an alternative, N-Zyme Biomedical has an approach for inhibiting the damaging effects of pepsin, the digestive enzyme found in the stomach. Trials have shown the company’s drug leads to “a significantly lower incidence” of LPR for patients, Johnston said.
“So very encouraging epidemiological data that supports our hypothesis,” she said, adding the therapeutic has “a really good safety and tolerability profile.”
She also touts the company’s team of strategic advisors spanning clinical practice, drug development, pharmaceutical business and regulatory expertise.
To date, the business has raised about $3 million, with investments supporting the drug reformulation process and clinical trials to assess the drug’s efficacy. Its first clinical trial is expected to begin in the next several months with a target of 104 patients.
“Our trial is more than three times oversubscribed … We currently have approximately 400 people interested, so we’ll be able to complete it expeditiously,” she said, adding “we’re excited to start this summer.”
Ultimately, Johnston says tens of millions of Americans could benefit from the treatment N-Zyme Biomedical is developing.
“I still hear from patients on a daily basis suffering from this,” she said. “When you think of reflux, you think, ‘Well, it could be annoying but it’s not that bad.’ But you know, it’s patients that use their voice on a day-to-day basis for teaching and singing. And also I think any kind of chronic condition over a long period of time just becomes very debilitating.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
