A collaboration with Spanish company IMIDomics will allow biopharmaceutical company Celgene to identify new targets and biomarkers, support further drug development, and classify patients for clinical trials in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other conditions.
The partnership, which allows access to IMIDomics’ extensive inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) database, is expected to help advance Celgene’s candidate in mid-late-stage clinical development, Otezla (apremilast), for treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD).
Otezla is an oral phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor approved for the treatment of plaque psoriasis and active psoriatic arthritis in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Other candidates from Celgene’s inflammatory diseases pipeline that may benefit from accessing the IMIDs database are ozanimod and GED-0301 (mongersen), both in mid-late-stage development for UC and CD.
Data from two Phase 3 trials, called REVOLVE and DEFINE, evaluating GED-0301 in UC and Crohn’s disease patients will be released in 2018. Data from separate Phase 2 studies evaluating GED-0301 in UC and ozanimod in Crohn’s disease are expected to begin later this year. The Phase 3 TRUE NORTH trial evaluating ozanimod in patients with UC also is due to report in 2018.
Information on all ongoing UC and CD clinical trials can be accessed here.
“IMIDomics’ database provides a powerful window into the clinical and molecular underpinnings of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases,” Douglas E. Bassett, PhD, vice president of informatics and knowledge utilization at Celgene, said in a press release. “This collaboration has exciting potential to impact our ongoing efforts to innovate breakthrough therapies for unmet medical needs in this space, and we’re enthusiastic to team up with IMIDomics to unlock the full potential of this resource for patient benefit.”
The companies did not disclose any financial details of the collaboration, but IMIDomics will most likely receive project funding and potential royalties on products produced by the partnership.
IMIDomics reportedly combines one of the largest IMID biobanks with clinical expertise in genetics to identify and develop biomarkers and targets for monitoring and treatment. The company emerged from Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research in Barcelona, Spain.
Subscribe to IBD News Today and receive our free, weekly newsletter directly in your email inbox and never miss another update.