Summary
- Cara's KORSUVA is targeting pruritus in CKD patients undergoing dialysis.
- There are no approved drugs in the US using the MOA of KORSUVA.
- However, the market is quite differentiated, and the stock seems to be on a roll right now, so we would wait for better opportunities.
- This idea was discussed in more depth with members of my private investing community, The Total Pharma Tracker. Start your free trial today »
Cara Therapeutics (CARA) is developing lead drug candidate CR845 or KORSUVA injection for uremic pruritus or chronic itching associated with chronic kidney disease patients on hemodialysis.
Pruritus affects about one-third of all CKD-HD patients. This isn't ordinary itching; you just don't get rid of it by scratching it once or twice. This is chronic, painful itching which becomes severe enough to negatively impact the patient's quality of life, causing sleeplessness and mood disorders. Medicines used for other types of itching, like antihistamines, do not work because this CKD-related itching is not caused by an overload of histamines in the body. Its pathogenesis is different and may include "uraemic-related abnormalities (particularly involving calcium, phosphorus, and parathyroid hormone metabolism), accumulation of uraemic toxins, systemic inflammation, cutaneous xerosis, and common co-morbidities such as diabetes mellitus and viral hepatitis." Corticosteroids sometimes work, but their side-effects are too difficult to manage and simply too much to justify long usage. There's a major unmet need in developing therapeutics for uremic pruritus.
