Shanghai, China, June 12, 2020 ---- Shanghai SIMR Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SIMR" or "Company") announced that the first-in-human study of candidate drug SR419 for peripheral neuropathic pain has been completed. SR419 was independently developed by the company and has a brand-new mechanism for the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain. 

 The trial was officially launched in Australia in July 2019. Its main purpose is to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic characteristics of SR419 in a healthy population of subjects. With the efforts of the company's project team and the cooperation of clinical trial institutions, the goals set in this trial have been achieved. 

Dr. Kai Wu, Co-CEO and Head of Clinical Development of SIMR, said: “SR419 has shown good safety and tolerability in the trial, which further confirms its potential advantages of strong drug efficacy and no central side effects. The success of the first clinical trial has laid a solid foundation for SR419 to enter the next stage of clinical development." 

 About peripheral neuropathic pain  

Peripheral neuropathic pain is the pain caused by damage or pathological changes of peripheral nerves, including post-herpetic neuralgia, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, and postoperative peripheral neuropathy. Epidemiological data show that the incidence of neuropathic pain in the general population is about 8%. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy affects about 50% of diabetic patients, and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy affects nearly 60% of cancer patients after chemotherapy. As the standard treatment for neuropathic pain, the annual global sales of pregabalin (Lyrica) has reached about 5 billion US dollars in the past 5 years, but its efficacy is not ideal, with nearly 50% of patients not experiencing effective pain relief after treatment. Therefore, there is a huge unmet medical need in this disease. 

 About SIMR 

 SIMR is an innovation-oriented biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of new drugs for pain and other nervous system diseases. Since its establishment in 2014, it has built up the capability in discovery (cell biology, pharmaceutical chemistry, process research, formulation research, quality research, pharmacological efficacy evaluation) and clinical development. From 2016 to 2018, SIMR completed the financing of tens of millions RMB at pre-A round and over 100 million RMB at A round. 

For more information on SIMR, please visit http://www.simrbio.com.