Date: 2016-09-23
Type of information: Initiation of preclinical development
phase: preclinical
Announcement: initiation of preclinical development
Company: Genfit (France)
Product: ROR?t inverse agonists
Action
mechanism: ROR?t inverse agonist. ROR?t is a lineage commitment factor for several classes of leukocytes that produce and secrete
interleukin 17 (IL-17), an important regulatory factor in the immune system. Dysregulation and pathologic roles of IL-17 signaling were reported in many systemic diseases, including but not limited to chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, COPD, neutrophilic asthma, fibrotic chronic liver diseases and certain cancers. ROR?t is recognized as an attractive therapeutic target among the nuclear receptors.
Disease:
Therapeutic area: Immunological diseases
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On September 23, 2016, Genfit announced the expansion of its product pipeline with the integration of novel ROR?t inverse agonists. Diverse chemical series of ROR?t inverse agonists were designed and optimized for the last three
years at Genfit as part of ambitious large-scale efforts to diversify the portfolio of proprietary drug candidates for the treatment of autoimmune, inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.
These drug candidates will enter the path of regulatory pre-IND studies. These candidates are potent and selective against other members of the ROR nuclear receptor family, and interfere with IL-17 production in human blood leukocytes.
Potential therapeutic application areas for ROR?t inverse agonists cover a wide spectrum of dermatologic, respiratory, or systemic diseases. The physicochemical properties of our ROR?t inverse agonists are compatible with classical methods of skin delivery, and as a first approach, it is envisaged to develop a topical formulation for applications in dermatologic diseases such as psoriasis. Genfit is open to forge mutually beneficial collaborations with companies that have an
established franchise in dermatology in order to advance this program to the clinic in an efficient way. In parallel, other approaches for inhalation and oral delivery are being optimized, which will provide additional opportunities in respiratory and systemic diseases respectively. Professor Bart Staels, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory board of Genfit, commented:
“Over the past few years, Th17 cells that rely on ROR?t expression have received a lot of attention due to their essential role in immune system homeostasis and pathology. In addition to IL-17, Th17 cells also express other proinflammatory cytokines. In this context, targeting the Th17 cell lineage by antagonizing ROR?t activity may give superior results as compared to blocking a single effector cytokine with an antibody.”
