Safety and Tolerability of Intravenous LLP2A-Alendronate for Osteopenia Secondary to Glucocorticoids

The study is designed to evaluate safety and tolerability of LLP2A-Ale beginning with a single ascending dose (SAD) cohort followed by multiple ascending dose (MAD) cohorts with matching placebo in each cohort. The population in this study includes patients with low bone density (osteopenia with a T score ≤ -1.0) in the femoral neck, total hip or lumbosacral spine who are taking Corticosteroids. Up to 59 patients will be enrolled, 32 in the SAD and 27 in the MAD. LLP2A-Ale is a novel anabolic agent. It appears that LLP2A-Ale may have utility in a variety of conditions where new bone formation is required. Non-traumatic osteonecrosis (ON) has been selected as the first indication for LLP2A-Ale because of the high unmet need, absence of treatments besides surgical joint replacement, and the clear need to attract and stimulate differentiation of stem cells into the region of necrotic bone. However, osteonecrosis is a rare, sporadic disease. Therefore, the Phase 1 study is being performed in people at risk for osteonecrosis, as a population representative of people with osteonecrosis, who will be the participants in any subsequent Phase 2 and 3 studies. Non-traumatic ON may also be caused by a variety of underlying medical conditions. Glucocorticoid use, alcohol, and smoking contribute to up to 80% of cases of nontraumatic ON. The relationship to GC is the strongest in people receiving relatively long term therapy, with risk increasing with cumulative exposure over three or more months. Vasculitis from autoimmune diseases predisposes to ON and ON is particularly associated with Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE), possibly due to coexistence of vasculitis and chronic GC treatment. In different series, symptomatic ON is reported in about 5-30% of SLE patients. Because many foci of ON are asymptomatic, rates based on MRI surveillance are higher, in the range of 30 - 50%, and often are multifocal. Because of the particularly high incidence of ON in SLE we anticipate that SLE patients will be a significant component of the population in later trials. Therefore investigators in this Phase 1 trial include rheumatologists in order to increase the likelihood of inclusion of lupus patients in this first study.