Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing products to treat serious conditions associated with cystic fibrosis, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. 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[1][2] is currently in Phase 2 clinical trial.
Products
Blisibimod
Blisibimod is a selective peptibody antagonist of B-cell activating factor (BAFF). BAFF is critical to the development, maintenance and survival of B-cells, but is known to be up-regulated in autoimmune diseases.[3][4][5] It is primarily expressed by macrophages, monocytes and dendritic cells.[6] Blisibimod binds to BAFF and inhibits the interaction of BAFF with its receptors.[7] Blisibimod is currently being evaluated in IgA nephropathy.
^"Anthera Pharmaceuticals Announces Acquisition of Sollpura® (liprotamase) for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency From Eli Lilly and Company". Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Anthera Pharmaceuticals. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2014. 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.