Treating the Underlying Cause of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Once-daily, oral medications for sleep apnea would constitute a major advance
There is a clear unmet need for an effective, well-tolerated therapy to address the physiologic and symptomatic effects of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Apnimed is among the first companies seeking to develop oral medications to address the underlying biology of this life-altering illness.
Treating the Underlying Cause of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Once-daily, oral medications for sleep apnea would constitute a major advance
There is a clear unmet need for an effective, well-tolerated therapy to address the physiologic and symptomatic effects of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Apnimed is among the first companies seeking to develop oral medications to address the underlying biology of this life-altering illness.
Groundbreaking research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston paved the way for a pharmacologic treatment of OSA. This work suggested that a once-daily medication taken at night to treat OSA could be a powerful new treatment option in place of continuous positive air pressure devices, often known as CPAP. Apnimed has built upon this exciting research and is leading the way in the development of new pharmacologic treatments to be offered to a broad range of patients with OSA.
a blocked airway
The Underlying Biology of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
In OSA the muscles that maintain an open upper airway relax during sleep leading to partial or complete pharyngeal collapse. This results in intermittent hypoxemia (low oxygen levels), sleep disruption and long-term cardiac and metabolic morbidity and mortality. Sleep-related muscular relaxation is the key neurological issue leading to OSA – patients suffering from OSA do not experience airway obstructions while awake, even while lying down. In patients with OSA, sleep onset leads to a reduction in neuromuscular activation of the upper airway and a corresponding relaxation of the upper airway and tongue muscles.
LEARN MORE:
OSA is driven by sleep-related upper
airway muscular relaxation
Full airway control in wakefulness
OSA patients do not experience airway obstructions while awake, even while lying down. The upper airway muscles are innervated and controlled by the hypoglossal motor nucleus in the brain stem which keeps the muscles fully active during wakefulness.
Low muscle tone at night causes obstructions
During sleep, neurotransmitters levels drop, leading to decreases in upper airway muscle tone and airway obstructions. Full obstructions are called apneas, while partial obstructions are called hypopneas.
OSA has serious consequences
Apneas and hypopneas lead to hypoxia and disrupted sleep. OSA is associated with adverse metabolic and cardiovascular outcomes and increased mortality, and can impair work productivity, reduce functional ability, and lower quality of life.
Opening airways
Addressing the Cause of OSA
By targeting the neurological control and activation of upper airway dilator muscles, we can potentially address the cause of the disease, improve respiration and oxygenation during sleep, and reduce the adverse health outcomes associated with OSA.
AD109 reactivates upper airway
muscles during sleep
Full airway control in wakefulness
OSA patients do not experience airway obstructions while awake, even while lying down. The upper airway muscles are innervated and controlled by the hypoglossal motor nucleus in the brain stem which keeps the muscles fully active during wakefulness.
AD109 is dosed at bedtime
AD109 targets two neurochemical pathways which control the upper airway musculature during sleep via a dual mechanism of action. AD109 would be the first medication indicated to address the disordered nighttime breathing that causes obstructive sleep apnea.
Airway muscle tone is maintained
AD109’s dual mechanism of action leads to upper airway dilation and improved respiration and oxygenation during sleep.