19 Jan 2016 07:00
4D pharma plc
(the "Company" or "4D")
Clinical Update on Blautix™, a novel treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
4D pharma plc (AIM: DDDD), a pharmaceutical company focusing on the development of live biotherapeutics, today provides the following clinical update on Blautix™, its proprietary live biotherapeutic for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
In August 2015 the Company commenced a phase 1 clinical trial in respect of Blautix™. The trial is being conducted in both healthy volunteers and individuals exhibiting symptoms of IBS. The Company has received an interim report regarding the safety and tolerability of Blautix™ in healthy volunteers, who have received multiple doses of the drug product.
The Company is pleased to report that the drug appears to be well tolerated, and that additional data obtained appears to support the pharmacological hypothesis for Blautix™.
Dr. Alex Stevenson, 4D's Chief Scientific Officer, commented: "Although this is interim data, these results indicate that Blautix™ appears to be safe and well tolerated in healthy volunteers. We look forward to reporting further results from the trial shortly, when dosing in IBS patients is completed. We believe our approach of identifying and developing novel live biotherapeutic products from healthy human samples gives us an advantage in terms of safety, and also allows us to rapidly develop drug candidates for diseases where current treatments may be associated with severe side effects."
4D has two clinical stage programmes; Blautix™, for the treatment of IBS, and Thetanix™, for the treatment of Paediatric Crohn's Disease.
The Company has successfully developed MicroRx, its proprietary platform for the discovery of novel live biotherapeutics from its proprietary strain library of over 2,500 bacteria. Since May 2014, the MicroRx platform has generated 12 programmes in autoimmune, cancer and CNS disease areas. As all live biotherapeutics discovered via MicroRx originate from healthy human samples, they are expected to have improved safety profiles over current treatments, such as small molecules and other biologics such as antibodies.
For further information please contact:
4D | + 44 (0) 161 837 6205 |
Duncan Peyton, Chief Executive Officer
| |
Zeus Capital Limited - Nomad and Broker | |
Dan Bate | +44 (0) 161 831 1512 |
Dominic Wilson | +44 (0) 0203 829 5000 |
About 4D
4D is a world leader in the development of live biotherapeutics, a novel and emerging class of drugs, defined by the FDA as biological products that contain a live organism, such as a bacteria, that is applicable to the prevention, treatment or cure of a disease. All of 4D's live biotherapeutic products are single strains of bacteria that are naturally found in the healthy human gut.
About IBS
IBS is a functional bowel disorder characterised by discomfort, pain and changes in bowel habits. Symptoms can be mild, moderate or severe. Mild symptoms, which occur infrequently, can sometimes interfere with normal daily functioning. Moderate symptoms are more intense, occur more frequently, and often interfere with daily functioning. Severe symptoms chronically interfere with daily functioning. It is estimated that 10-15% of the population have IBS, with only 30-35% of patients seeking medical attention, the majority of which have persistent symptoms. There are currently few approved treatment options, all of which focus on the modulation of symptoms.