Aerpio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the completion of patient dosing in the Company’s TIME-2b study, a Phase 2b clinical trial designed to assess the efficacy and safety of Aerpio’s lead candidate, AKB-9778, for patients with moderate to severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR). The TIME-2b study is a double-masked, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial evaluating the effect of AKB-9778 in 167 patients with moderate to severe NPDR. Patients were randomized to receive 48 weeks of treatment with either AKB-9778 15 mg subcutaneously once daily (and placebo subcutaneously once daily), AKB-9778 15 mg subcutaneously twice daily, or placebo subcutaneously twice daily. The primary endpoint of the TIME-2b study is the percentage of patients who improve by 2 or more steps in diabetic retinopathy severity score (DRSS) in the study eye. One of the secondary objectives, the urine albumin to creatinine ratio or UACR, was prospectively included based on a post-hoc analysis of this biomarker in the TIME-2 Phase 2a clinical trial of AKB-9778. Initial results from this trial are expected in March 2019.