Vicore Pharma (VICO) Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference 2026 summary

Strategic focus and disease mechanism

• Focused on fibrotic diseases, especially idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), targeting epithelial injury as the root cause rather than just fibrotic buildup.

• The approach involves agonizing a receptor on alveolar epithelial type 2 cells to restore function and resolve fibrosis, including upregulation of collagenase enzymes like MMP-13.

• The mechanism is also vasoactive, addressing vascular dysfunction associated with IPF.

Clinical development and trial design

• Phase IIa AIR study was open-label, 36 weeks, showing stabilization and improvement in lung function, supported by a synthetic control arm analysis.

• Phase IIb ASPIRE study is a global, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with 378 patients, two doses, and a 52-week duration; primary endpoint is FVC, with key secondary endpoints including exacerbations and death.

• Enrollment completed ahead of schedule in April, with top-line results expected mid-2025.

Patient population and background therapy

• Phase IIa enrolled treatment-naive patients mainly from India, with characteristics matching global datasets; patients had slightly more fibrosis but showed significant FVC improvements.

• In Phase IIb, about 40% of patients are not on background therapy, allowing assessment as monotherapy; background therapies include nintedanib and nerandomilast, but not pirfenidone.