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Devgen drug candidates may promise breakthrough in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases

25 Aug 2006 - Devgen announced that, following encouraging results from studies in animals, one of its preclinical programs may show promise for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Devgen scientists have discovered compounds that inhibit the secretion of specific hormones that are the primary cause of rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints.
 
A key competitive edge of the Devgen molecules is that they are small molecule drugs that can be orally administered. The current treatments are protein based therapeutics, applied by injection and are costly to produce. Hence, they are infrequently administered early in the development of the disease.
 
"Finding orally active TNFa inhibitors is a 'holy grail' in inflammation research as it may provide patients with convenient, cost effective and hence earlier treatment options in the development of these progressive diseases" says Devgen CEO Thierry Bogaert. "Such inhibitors may furthermore be suitable for treating other inflammatory diseases including inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis".
 
Devgen is progressing with the development of its novel inhibitors in additional preclinical models of inflammatory diseases and will conduct further studies to complete a preclinical and partnering package over the next 9 months.