Avidia Initiates Clinical Trial Of Novel Inhibitor Of Interleukin-6 For Crohn's Disease

Main Category: Crohn's / IBD
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 21 Sep 2006 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Avidia Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced the initiation of and dosing of the first patient for a Phase I clinical trial of its novel drug candidate C326, an inhibitor of interleukin-6 for the treatment of Crohn's disease. C326 is the first in a new class of therapeutic proteins known as Avimer(TM) proteins.

"This trial marks Avidia's transition from a research-based company to a clinical development organization, less than two years after we started the IL-6 inhibitor program, demonstrating the capability of our Avimer technology to deliver new therapeutic product candidates," said Peter Van Vlasselaer, Ph.D., Avidia's chief executive officer. "We believe that C326 may positively impact patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. C326 represents the first of a number of Avimer therapeutic candidates that we hope to have enter the clinic in the next few years."

The placebo-controlled, single and multiple dose-escalation study is evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic profile of C326 versus placebo in adults with Crohn's disease. The trial is being conducted in Australia.

"This is an exciting potential therapeutic for a difficult-to-treat disease," said Pat Walicke, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs. "IL-6 has been shown to mediate the inflammatory response in Crohn's disease and other inflammatory diseases. These conditions have few good treatment alternatives and require very careful monitoring of those therapeutic options to achieve management and control of the disease."

About C326 and Avidia Avimer Proteins

C326 is a novel protein therapeutic, designed to inhibit the function of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a pro-inflammatory cytokine that stimulates an immune response to trauma and has been shown to play a role in multiple disease indications. By inhibiting IL-6, C326 is designed to reduce or prevent symptoms associated with autoimmunity and inflammation. C326, as an Avimer drug candidate, has a unique structure that distinguishes it from antibodies, antibody fragments and other therapeutic proteins. Avimer proteins are much smaller than most therapeutic proteins and antibodies and their specificity and avidity make them particularly attractive as drug candidates.

About Crohn's Disease

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It is an ongoing autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation of the digestive tract, most commonly the small or large intestine. Symptoms of Crohn's disease may include diarrhea, frequent bowel movement that may or may not be accompanied by blood and mucous in the stool, gas, bloating, indigestion, pain, cramps and weight loss. As many as 500,000 Americans have Crohn's disease. Treatment may include drugs, nutrition supplements, surgery, or a combination of these options to control inflammation and nutrition, and relieve symptoms. Though treatment can help control the disease by lowering the number of times a person experiences a recurrence, there is no cure.

About Avidia

Avidia is a privately held biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing a new class of human therapeutic proteins. Avidia is engineering these Avimer(TM) therapeutics against multiple validated and novel targets to address a wide range of disease areas, including inflammation, oncology and neurology. For more information, visit: http://www.avidia.com/.

Avidia Inc.
http://www.avidia.com/

• Additional
• References
• Citations