Loss of Paneth cells and their antimicrobial granules has been linked to a compromised intestinal epithelial barrier, which is a hallmark of Crohn’s disease.
Sironax Ltd. has patented receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and viral infections.
A protein called apoptosis inhibitor 5 (API-5) protects intestinal Paneth cells, which are disrupted in Crohn’s disease, and could lead to a new treatment for the inflammatory bowel disease. Writing in the Oct. 5, 2022, online issue of Nature, Ken Cadwell, a professor of microbiology at New York University Grossman School of Medicine, and colleagues described testing the protein in a mouse model and in gut organoids with good results. Crohn’s disease is one of two key autoimmune diseases that affect the gut, the second of which is ulcerative colitis. Combined, inflammatory bowel diseases affect around 3 million people in the U.S. While there is currently no cure for these conditions, there are monoclonal antibody therapies available.
The May 2014 approval of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s Entyvio (vedolizumab) brought welcome news in the form of an important mechanism of action for patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, but also means a burdensome course of administration – 30 minutes’ worth of infusion every six weeks, a drawback that other developers are trying to remedy. Standouts among the up-and-comers are Morphic Holding Inc., with an oral candidate that works through the same mechanism of action as Entyvio, and Protagonist Therapeutics Inc.
Medshine Discovery Inc. has patented new sulfinylpyridine-containing nonreceptor tyrosine-protein kinase TYK2 inhibitors expected to be useful for the treatment of Crohn's disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and ulcerative colitis.
Qilu Regor Therapeutics Inc. has identified (hetero)arylamino-cyclohexyl-sulfonyl derivatives acting as C-C chemokine receptor type 6 (CCR6) antagonists reported to be useful for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
In the largest study to date for Crohn's disease, researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard identified rare variants of 10 genes associated with this pathology. The researchers sequenced the exomes of 110,000 people, 30,000 patients with Crohn's and 80,000 without this condition, with the participation of a hundred international scientific institutions.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. has agreed to pay up to $1.9 billion plus royalties, plus an up-front payment of undisclosed value, for Gentibio Inc.’s expertise in engineered regulatory T cells (Tregs) to treat inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The agreement follows soon after BMS’ $4.1 billion acquisition of cancer biotech Turning Point Therapeutics Inc., as well as an expansion of its oncology partnership with Bridgebio Pharma Inc. to the tune of $905 million.
Agomab Therapeutics NV raised $40.5 million in a series B extension led by Pfizer Inc., which has also come on board as an adviser on the development of AGMB-129, Agomab’s candidate therapy for fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease. The new cash raises the series B total to $114 million.
The latest in a spate of draft and final guidances released recently by the U.S. FDA could help sponsors developing drugs to treat early stage solid tumor malignancies.
