Synvista Therapeutics, Inc has dosed the first patient in a 30-patient phase-2 clinical trial of its proprietary topical GPx-mimetic, SYI-2074, in patients with psoriasis. The trial is planned to be a 28-day multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study to assess the efficacy of topical SYI-2074, applied twice daily, for the treatment of chronic, mild-to-moderate plaque psoriasis in adults. The trial is being conducted in three centers in Israel.

"We are very excited to begin phase-2 clinical trials on SYI-2074 for psoriasis," said Noah Berkowitz, president and chief executive officer of Synvista Therapeutics. "We believe that there is immense potential to expand the scope of treatment modalities for psoriasis following this trial and look forward to reporting results in the first quarter of 2009."

Synvista's GPx mimetic programme is based on the rational design of oral and topical drugs that mimic the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), the only enzyme in the human body that reduces oxidized lipids.

GPx is a well validated target for drug development. Animal models have shown that elevated activity of GPx protects animals from experiencing heart attacks and atherosclerosis and reduced levels of GPx put them at risk for those diseases or complications. In humans, research suggests the risk of cardiovascular disease varies inversely with levels of GPx activity (i.e., higher levels of oxidized lipids promote the creation of oxygen free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as H2O2, which can promote inflammation).

As noted above, a topical form of our GPx mimetic SYI-2074 is being developed for treatment of mild to moderate plaque psoriasis, an inflammatory disease highly correlated with a molecular signalling pathway that can be inhibited by SYI-2074.

Synvista Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing diagnostics and drugs to diagnose, treat and prevent cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes.