Inflammatory Disease
Inflammation is a natural biologic response to injury or infectious attack to the human body. Unregulated inflammation results in a broad range of conditions, most of which are classified by the tissue or organ where the inflammation occurs. These conditions include RA in the joints, psoriasis in the skin, asthma and COPD in the lung, fibrotic disease in the liver and kidney, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in the intestine, and atherosclerosis in the arteries. Currently, many of these patients are treated with injectable protein therapeutics, such as Enbrel, Remicade, Humira and Kineret, which bind to and/or modulate the activity of the inflammatory cytokines TNF or IL-1. These injectable protein therapeutics have significant cost, safety and patient compliance issues. Other therapies currently on the market, including NSAIDs and opioids, have side effect and efficacy issues. We are developing drugs that modulate important biological targets in key intracellular pathways that control inflammation, potentially providing the ability to treat multiple diseases and conditions with a single oral agent.