BOSTON– In the search for safer alternatives to glucocorticoid therapy, DAGR (PF-0417327) may prove to be a contender. The investigational drug is a selective, high-affinity, dissociated agonist of the glucocorticoid receptor, and appeared to be associated with fewer potential adverse events than are typically seen with glucocorticoids in a phase II trial that compared 8 weeks of the drug against placebo and prednisone.
The findings suggest that DAGR is therapeutically equivalent to prednisone 10 mg once daily, but with side effects comparable with those seen with prednisone 5 mg once daily and with no clinical symptoms of adrenal insufficiency. Dr. Vibeke Strand, a rheumatologist and biopharmaceutical consultant in Portola Valley, Calif., presented data on the drug during the late-breaker session and discussed the implications of the findings at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.