Bone's Proactive Arthritis Drug Attacks The Cause Of Arthritic Pain

Main Category: Arthritis / Rheumatology
Also Included In: Bones / Orthopaedics;  Pain / Anesthetics;  Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 23 Feb 2007 - 12:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Bone Medical Limited's (ASX-BNE) revolutionary rheumatoid arthritis drug, which attacks the cause of sufferers' pain rather than dealing with the resultant pain, is to undergo advanced testing in the state-of-the-art facility at London's world-renowned Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology.

The new research follows on from positive results in animal studies.

The most effective treatment to date, pioneered by Kennedy Institute Director, Professor Marc Feldmann, and Sir Ravinder Maini, is an antibody that mops up the cause of the painful inflammation, TNF, which is produced by the cells after they have been stimulated.

However, Bone Medical has adopted a more proactive approach of developing the drug, TNF down-regulator candidate BN006, which reduces pain by blocking the response to the stimulus that leads to the production of the unwanted TNF.

"The Kennedy Institute's "cognate assay" in vitro testing system mimics immunological processes in the joints of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sufferers and is the closest that researchers have ever come to reproducing the conditions found in arthritic joints", the assay's lead developer, Professor Fionula Brennan, said.

"The test uses human cells taken from patients suffering from the disease and mirrors closely the way in which the production of TNF is stimulated", she said.

"Bone's TNF down-regulator is a second-generation approach to the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and has tremendous promise because of its potential to be administered orally and at a low cost. More research is important to make sure this project progresses rapidly to the clinic." Professor Feldmann said.

About Bone Medical Limited

Bone Medical Limited is an international biopharmaceutical development company positioned to exploit the growing market in the treatment of bone disease particularly in osteoporosis and arthritis. Bone has a portfolio of biopharmaceutical development projects for the treatment of bone disease including,

Osteoporosis

-- Capsitonin™ oral calcitonin

-- oral parathyroid hormone

-- bone cell regulators BN005 & BN008

Arthritis

-- TNF re/gulators BN006

-- joint protection & collagen tolerance BN007

http://www.bonemedical.com