Assuming the success of the safety and tolerability phase of the testing process, the company plans to begin trials evaluating the efficacy of the compound in mid-2006.
“This trial is the first test of PRTX-100 in humans, and will give us invaluable information in planning the next trials of PRTX-100 in patients,” said Dr Victor Sloan, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Protalex. “Studying PRTX-100 in healthy volunteers will allow us to perform additional studies in multiple indications.”
PRTX-100 acts as a selective immune modulator, restoring normal immune function by preventing the activation of lymphoid cells, the communication between cells of the immune system necessary for abnormal immune responses and the secretion of pathogenic cytokines. It has demonstrated efficacy in models of rheumatoid arthritis.