A Coruña-based biopharmaceutical company Oncostellae is developing a new drug to treat ulcerative colitis, targeting patients with moderate to severe symptoms who experience severe manifestations beyond the typical inflammatory flare-ups of the condition. The innovation of this new treatment lies in its local delivery to the intestine, meaning it causes no damage or side effects to the rest of the body.
Guido Kurz, CEO of the company, explained to Economía Digital Galicia that this modulated release system, which affects only the affected area of the intestine, is one of the major advantages because «the combination of efficacy and safety can bring something very new in this field.“
«Ours is targeted locally at the intestine, so it is not going to attack the rest of the body and will therefore avoid the damage caused by other medications in this indication,» the CEO noted.
Currently, the drug is in phase IIa clinical trials, meaning it is already being administered to patients since the testing phase in healthy volunteers has concluded. Specifically, the drug is being tested on 36 people. Thanks to this analysis, Kurz detailed, «we can generate efficacy data to check if the drug does what it is supposed to do and guarantee that it is completely safe.“
Oncostellae’s new drug could work for patients’ maintenance treatments. «There are drugs that only help lower a flare-up but cannot be used for maintenance, and drugs that serve for maintenance but are not sufficient to treat a flare-up; our medication would have the profile to do both,» Kurz stated.
