Pharmaceutical Business review

Callisto reveals positive data on inflammation drug

This new animal data demonstrate that oral administration of Guanilib significantly reduces gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation, and confirm earlier evidence of down-regulation of interleukin-17 (IL-17), IL-23, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF), key cytokines that are known to be involved in etiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in humans. Guanilib is currently being developed for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

“These are important findings and suggest a possible mechanism of action of Guanilib and implicate its therapeutic potential in GI inflammatory diseases such as IBD and IBS,” said Dr Kunwar Shailubhai, senior vice president, Discovery Research of Callisto.

Callisto believes that Guanilib is presently the best physiological ligand of guanylate cyclase receptor with the potential to provide a new way to treat gastrointestinal diseases, while exhibiting minimal side effects or toxicity.