A Dose Escalation and Safety Study of I5NP in Patients Undergoing Major Cardiovascular Surgery

This is a Phase 1, randomized, double-blind, dose escalation, safety and pharmacokinetic study. The study will be conducted in approximately 8-10 centers in the United States and Switzerland. Up to 32 patients who have undergone major cardiovascular surgery will participate. Patients will receive a single IV injection of I5NP or placebo following cardiovascular surgery. I5NP will be administered 4 hours (+/- 30 minutes) following removal of the cardiopulmonary bypass machine (CBM). The duration of the study is approximately 44 days, inclusive of a 14 day screening period. Patients will be contacted by phone at 6 and 12 months for follow-up questions. Patient visits are screening, day of surgery, hospital in-patient Days 1, 2, 3 and Day 7 or hospital discharge. Safety follow-up will continue until 30 days post-surgery. 2 phone calls will be made at 6 and 12 months after date of surgery.

The drug (I5NP) is a small interfering RNA that is being developed to protect patients from acute kidney injury after cardiac bypass surgery. This first-in-man study will test the safety of I5NP and measure how long the drug stays in the blood stream after injection. This study is not meant to test if I5NP protects kidneys from the damage that may occur in rare cases during surgery. Another purpose of this dose escalation study is to find out the right dose of the experimental drug to be given to study subjects in future studies. Even though there were no harmful effects seen in the animals tested, we do not know what side effects the experimental drug might cause in humans.