The company extends the project portfolio to projects in autoimmune diseases.
Idogen´s technology is designed for the development of tolerogenic cell therapy in a variety of areas, especially treatment of anti-drug antibodies, autoimmune diseases and organ rejection after transplantation. Until now, Idogen’s project portfolio consisted of the two product candidates IDO 8 and IDO T. IDO 8 is aimed at patients with severe haemophilia A affected by inhibitory antibodies against their vital treatment with coagulation factor VIII. An initial clinical trial of IDO 8 is scheduled to start in early 2020. IDO T is a treatment method aimed at preventing organ rejection in transplantation, primarily in renal transplantation. Preclinical proof of concept data for IDO T is expected to be presented within three to six months.
A third therapeutic area
Idogen has now decided to expand the project portfolio with a third therapeutic area; autoimmune diseases. Patients with autoimmune diseases are often treated for prolonged periods with drugs that strongly suppress the immune system. However, the effect on the underlying disease is rarely optimal and treatment can lead to unwanted side effects. The medical need for improved therapies is therefore large. The purpose of Idogen’s tolerogenic cell therapy is to dramatically reduce the need for immunosuppressive drugs by a short treatment with improvements for the patient as a result. Proof of principle data from a preclinical trial model relevant to a rare autoimmune disease is expected to be presented within three to six months.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to evaluate the potential of Idogen’s technology platform in the field of autoimmune diseases. Today, there is a major unmet medical need in patients with current standard treatments, where we believe that Idogen’s tolerogenic cell therapy can play an important role. Our focus will be on one or several rare diseases, which allows for the grant of orphan drug designation that can reduce both development costs and time until market approval, as well as extended market exclusivity”, CEO Lars Hedbys comments.
Source: Idogen press release
Photo Lars Hedbys, CEO Idogen. Photo: Kennet Rouna
