Neuropharmacodynamic Profile of NKTR-181: Correlation to Low Abuse Potential Laurie VanderVeen, Takahiro Miyazaki, Irene Choi, Michael A. Eldon, Xue Snow Ge, Hema Gursahani, Faye Hsieh, Aleksandrs Odinecs, Jonathan Zalevsky, and Stephen K. Doberstein Nektar Therapeutics, San Francisco, CA
Disclosures LV, TM, IC, ME, XG, HG, FH, AO, JZ, and SD are current or former employees of Nektar Therapeutics 2
Characteristics of Drugs of Abuse Shorter intervals between drug intake and perceived effect (euphoric high ) correlate with greater abuse potential Fast rate of drug uptake into brain Rapid activation of dopamine reward circuits in the brain Rapid dopamine release in the striatum is associated with euphoria Speed of dopamine release and the magnitude of effect is directly linked to the likelihood that a drug will be abused An opioid that avoids these characteristics is expected to have less abuse potential than conventional opioids Oldendorf W. NIDA Res Monogr 1992;120:13-25 Volkow and Morales Cell 2015;162:712-725 3
NKTR-181: A Novel Opioid for Treatment of Chronic Pain New molecular entity, full mu-opioid receptor agonist designed to have slow rate of entry into the brain relative to conventional opioids 1 Slow CNS entry rate dependent on unique physicochemical properties that are inherent to the NKTR-181 molecule No known chemical or physical methods to alter NKTR-181 to increase its CNS entry rate Significant, clinically meaningful analgesia in phase 3 clinical trial in patients with moderate-to-severe chronic low back pain 2 Significantly lower mean peak Drug Liking scores at therapeutic doses relative to oxycodone in human abuse potential studies 3 Poster 36: Henningfield et al. Thursday 12-2 pm Low abuse potential in preclinical models 1 1. Miyazaki T, et al. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 2017;363:104-113. 2. Markman, J, et al. Postgrad Med 2017;129(suppl1):28-29. 3. Webster L, et al. Pain Med 2018;19:307-318. 4
Time Course of Pupil Constriction Delayed Relative to Oxycodone in Human Subjects Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, single-dose crossover study in recreational opioid users 5
Similar Time Course of Peak Pupil Constriction and Peak Oxycodone Plasma Concentration Reflects rapid distribution of oxycodone into CNS 6
Peak Pupil Constriction is Delayed Relative to NKTR-181 Plasma T max Plasma Tmax Pupil TEmax NKTR-181 time of maximum pupil constriction observed 2-3 hours after time to peak plasma concentration, consistent with slow entry of NKTR- 181 into the CNS 7
Objective: Characterize Components of NKTR-181 Abuse Potential MOA Rate of brain entry Mu-opioid receptor binding kinetics Time profile of dopamine release in nucleus accumbens 8
NKTR-181 Demonstrates 70-fold Slower Brain Uptake than Oxycodone in Rat In situ brain perfusion in rat Normalized Brain Uptake Rate (Relative to Antipyrene) 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.10 0.05 0.01 Single 30 second perfusion into carotid artery of anesthetized rats Brain uptake rate (K in ) calculated from drug concentrations measured in brain at end of perfusion Compound K in, perfusion (ml/g/min) 10 µm 100 µm Oxycodone 0.497 ± 0.121 0.560 ± 0.056 0.00 NKTR-181 0.007 ± 0.005 0.008 ± 0.005 Oxycodone (10 µ M) N K TR -181 (10 µ M) N = 4 male Sprague-Dawley rats/group Data are presented as mean ± SEM 9
NKTR-181 Binds Mu-Opioid Receptor with Slower Association Rate and Moderate Affinity Ligand k on (M -1 min -1 ) k off (min -1 ) K d (nm) NKTR-181 5.45 x 10 5 0.443 813 Specific [ 3 H]naloxone Bound (cpm) (mean ± SD) 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0 5 10 15 Tim e (m in) NKTR-181 0 nm 1000 nm 3000 nm 10000 nm Oxycodone 8.68 x 10 6 0.554 63.8 Specific [ 3 H]naloxone Bound (cpm) (mean ± SD) 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0 5 10 15 Tim e (m in) Oxycodone 0 nm 60 nm 180 nm 600 nm Competition binding of [ 3 H]naloxone to hmor in CHO-hMOR cell membrane preparations Method of Motulsky and Mahan 1984 Mol Pharmacol 25; 1-9 10
NKTR-181 Induces Slower Onset of Dopamine Release in Rat Nucleus Accumbens Dopamine (% of basal levels at 0 min) 220 180 140 100 Single intravenous dose in awake rats Dopamine levels measured in nucleus accumbens shell using microdialysis NKTR-181 30 mg/kg IV Oxycodone 1 mg/kg IV 0 15 30 45 60 75 90 Time post-dose (min) N = 2-3 male Sprague-Dawley rats/group 90 second sampling interval 11
Differential Kinetics of Dopamine Response to NKTR-181 and Oxycodone Reduced magnitude of dopamine release relative to 10-fold lower dose of oxycodone Slower offset of dopamine effect NKTR-181 Oxycodone 220 220 Dopamine (% of basal levels at 0 min) 180 140 100 Vehicle NKTR-181 3 mg/kg IV NKTR-181 10 mg/kg IV NKTR-181 30 mg/kg IV Dopamine (% of basal levels at 0 min) 180 140 100 Vehicle Oxycodone 0.3 mg/kg IV Oxycodone 1 mg/kg IV Oxycodone 3 mg/kg IV 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 Time post-dose (min) Time post-dose (min) N = 6-7 male Sprague-Dawley rats/group 5 minute sampling interval 12
Conclusions NKTR-181 has a pharmacodynamic profile distinct from oxycodone Slower rate of uptake into brain Slower association with target receptor Slower onset of dopamine release consistent with its slower target site distribution and receptor binding kinetics This unique profile supports a mechanism for the low abuse potential observed with NKTR-181 13