the use of Mitra for phase 2b/phase 3 clinical trials for padsevonil

The 2019 conference of the European Federation for Exploratory Medicines Development (EUFEMED), held May 15 – 17 in Lyon, France, turned a spotlight on “The Changing Landscape of Early Medicines Development.” This included a presentation by Hugues Chanteux on some exciting new work he’s done with his team at UCB Pharma, an innovative pharma company that has done much to move forward the science of blood microsampling.

The topic at hand was Padsevonil (PSL), a drug in development that shows promise for treating patients with epilepsy and drug-resistant focal seizures. At the time of writing, it was in Phase 2b / Phase 3 in clinical trials. Chanteaux explained how he and his team validated a method for the collection of PK samples in clinical studies of PSL using Mitra^® microsampling devices.

Microsampling Advantages for Antiseizure Medication Studies

The advantages of using Mitra devices in clinical trials are many. This method of precise, low-volume specimen collection reduces the burden both on clinical trial participants and on clinical operations, as well as allowing for more flexibility in recruitment and participation by introducing more convenient at-home and remote sampling.

In his presentation, Chanteux walks through his team’s methodology and delivers its results.

Bioanalytical Validation: The bioanalytical method was demonstrated to be accurate, precise, and selective for quantification of PSL over a clinically relevant concentration range (2-2000 ng/mL).

Bridging of Clinical Data: Blood PSL exposure was ~34% lower than plasma exposure This is in close agreement with the measured in vitro blood to plasma ratio of PSL (0.7).

With the bioanalytical method for quantification of PSL using microsampling successfully validated and PK data obtained with microsampling bridged with that from plasma, both in healthy study participants and patients with epilepsy, UCB Pharma has implemented the use of Mitra blood collection systems for collection of PK samples in global development studies.

For full results, see Hugues Chanteux’s presentation here. For more information on using Mitra devices and Volumetric Absorptive Microsampling technology in pharma, clinical trials, and drug development, view our full collection of relevant resources.