Novartis LNA043 for knee osteoarthritis gets USFDA fast track status

OA is a chronic degenerative disease characterized by a progressive loss of cartilage, leading to pain, loss of joint function and disability. It affects over 300 million people worldwide posing a significant and growing burden to healthcare systems, often presenting in the knees with over 1 million knee replacements estimated to take place annually in the US alone.

A debilitating disease with increasing prevalence as societies age, existing pharmacologic treatments only address symptoms such as pain, meaning there is a significant and growing need for a disease modifying therapy that could maintain or regenerate cartilage and change the natural course of the disease.

LNA043 is a ANGPTL3 agonist that targets damaged cartilage and modulates several pathways involved in cartilage regeneration. In a proof of concept study, treatment with intra-articular injections of LNA043 resulted in regeneration of damaged cartilage in patients with femoral articular cartilage lesions. A Phase IIb study in patients with knee OA is underway.

Discovered within the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, LNA043 is among a number of early investigational programs in Novartis's portfolio that target cartilage damage and inflammation in OA.