Omeros, a Seattle-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has filed an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) with the FDA to initiate clinical trials evaluating OMS824, the company's lead compound from its phosphodiesterase 10 (PDE10) program for schizophrenia and other cognitive disorders.

OMS824 selectively inhibits PDE10, an enzyme expressed in areas of the brain linked to diseases that affect cognition, including schizophrenia and Huntington's disease. The first clinical trial evaluating OMS824 is expected to commence following the FDA's review of the IND. This phase I dose-ranging study will evaluate the drug's safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in healthy subjects and, assuming timely clearance by the FDA, Omeros plans to begin enrollment in the fourth quarter of 2012 with data expected before year end.

"OMS824 represents the first new chemical entity developed wholly within Omeros that has progressed from discovery through preclinical development and is now poised to enter the clinic, underscoring our in-house capabilities to generate promising novel compounds and build them into clinical assets,” said Gregory A. Demopulos, M.D., chairman and CEO of Omeros. “Together with our phase I trial results for OMS824, we also expect to announce data later this year from our two ongoing phase III clinical development programs, OMS302 for ophthalmology and OMS103HP for arthroscopy."