SAN DIEGO, May 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metacrine, Inc., an innovative biotechnology company developing therapies to benefit patients with liver, gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases, today presented data showing equivalent efficacy of M480, a potent oral non-bile acid farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonist for the potential treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), to anti-IL-12/23, a biologic agent. The oral presentation will take place at the Digestive Disease Week 2018 Annual Meeting (DDW 2018) being held in Washington, D.C. on June 5, 2018 at 4:45pm EDT and presented by Xueqing Liu, PhD, a scientist from Metacrine. The abstract can be found on the DDW 2018 website here.
IBD is a debilitating disease in which most existing therapies are injectable biologics with immunosuppressive side effects. Targeting FXR, a nuclear hormone receptor activated by bile acids, represents a novel approach to treating IBD. FXR is a ligand-activated transcription factor highly expressed in the liver and gastrointestinal tract. Metacrine has developed an extensive portfolio of oral FXR agonists that are taken once a day. The abstract compares the efficacy of M480 (a Metacrine developed oral FXR agonist), anti-IL-12/23, and Cyclosporine A (CsA) in the mouse adoptive T-cell transfer model of colitis. This pre-clinical disease model is thought to be more representative of human IBD.
M480 was shown to be efficacious in reducing colitis in the adoptive T-cell transfer model with efficacy superior to CsA and comparable to anti-IL-12/23 treatment. The findings of this study suggest that FXR agonists being developed by Metacrine represent a novel class of oral agents that may offer an alternative treatment for IBD. M480 is a predecessor compound to Metacrine’s lead product candidate MET409 which is entering clinical development this summer.
About Metacrine
Metacrine is developing best-in-class and first-in-class therapies to benefit patients with liver, gastrointestinal, and metabolic diseases. Metacrine’s lead program for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), MET409, focuses on the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and is based on a novel non-bile acid chemical scaffold. Additional programs are underway in irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the company has a research collaboration with Novo Nordisk in type 2 diabetes. Privately held Metacrine is headquartered in San Diego. For additional information, please visit www.metacrine.com.
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Investor Inquiries
Westwicke Partners
Robert H. Uhl
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858.356.5932
robert.uhl@westwicke.com