Project

Research & development of a small-molecule anti-TNF for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Project Summary

Biologic TNF-inhibitors currently take up a sizeable portion of the global top 10 drug market due to their strong efficacy and positive market uptake. However the market is still in need of more innovative options.

Of the various possible indications of anti-TNFs, rheumatoid arthritis is one of the more serious and debilitating diseases affecting millions of patients around the world. However current treatment options such as DMARDs and biologic drugs (anti-TNF biologics) have definite room for improvement for both safety and efficacy as well as immunogenicity which can undermine the treatment efficacy for the patients.

Against this backdrop, small-molecule anti-TNFs may very well be the much needed solution to address the unmet needs due to their simple structure, lower cost of manufacturing, potential to be developed into patient-friendly oral medication, and low immunogenicity.

ILAb is currently involved in the R&D of one such small-molecule TNF-inhibitor. Literature search indicates that there have been a few attemtps in the past to develop small-molecule anti-TNFs drug candidates but none progressed as far as proving in vivo efficacy as ILAb's IA-14069 have done.

Business Model

ILAb is an immunology lab-based venture startup focused on the research and early-phase development of small-molecule alternatives to biotherapeutics to address the unmet needs of the current treatment options.

Main Achievements

ILAb's IA-14069 demonstrated efficacy comparable to that of etanercept and adalimumab when tested in Human TNF-TG RA model and CIA model.

A study exploring the efficacy of a combination therapy with MTX is currently underway.