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news.Trubion Pharmaceuticals has initiated the company's first phase I clinical study, designed to evaluate the safety of increasing doses of its product candidate, TRU-015, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
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TRU-015 is designed to deplete B lymphocytes and is the first small modular immunopharmaceutical (SMIP) to enter a phase I study. SMIP product candidates utilize key structures – or modules – in naturally occurring proteins that the company optimizes to function together in a single molecule.
B-cells are thought to play a key role in inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis. One way to deplete these cells is to target CD20, a protein found only on the surface of B-cells. TRU-015 was specifically designed to target and eliminate CD20-bearing B-cells.
“Bringing our first product candidate into the clinic is a significant achievement in the company’s development,” said Trubion co-founder and CEO Dr Peter Thompson.