"AKLRD, a UK SME, is seeking funding to take APPA, a new drug for treating Osteoarthritis (OA), through proof of concept clinical testing. OA, a degenerative joint disease, leads to increasing immobility, chronic pain and ultimately costly joint replacement. In the UK, 8.75 million people have sought treatment for OA and it is a growing problem linked to increasing ageing and obesity in world populations. Following the withdrawal of a number of medicines for treating OA, treatment options are limited. Available medications that promise to mitigate the pain of OA have a number of risk / benefit considerations. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are associated with a significant increase in GI bleeds and 50-100% increase in the risk of myocardial infarction or cardiovascular death. Remaining treatment options are subject to significant prescribing restrictions. APPA has potential as a first-in-class, disease modifying treatment (in addition to significant pain relief and function improvement) with a demonstrably low risk adverse event profile. This would build upon a robust evidence-base where APPA has demonstrated repeated significant disease modification (slowing of cartilage destruction) in validated _in-vivo_ animal models, as well as showing repeated, significant pain relief and function improvement _in-vivo_ in validated rat and canine models. Completion of the clinical work in the proposed project would catalyse further development of APPA and provide patients with a new treatment option."

AKL, a UK SME, has developed a novel therapeutic, APPA, for the treatment of osteoarthritis, a growing chronic disease affecting more than 8.5m people in the UK. It intends to use its innovation voucher to underpin the manufacture and production of APPA.