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It’s been an exciting month to us at Welichem!
A team from Welichem attended the Biopartnering North America conference two weeks ago and gave a series of presentations about our products and R&D progress through podium presentation, poster exhibition, and face-to-face meetings with pharmaceutical companies. Thus, we were able to explore feasibility of out-licensing, partnering and co-development opportunities.
We also worked hard on pushing forward the preclinical work for our lead anti-cancer and neutrophil boosting compound, WBI-2100, as described previously.
And just yesterday, Health Canada approved our CTA (Clinical Trials Application) for a Phase IIa Clinical Trial of our drug candidate, WBI-1001, on Atopic Dermatitis (AD, a type of eczema) patients. The proposed study intends to confirm the efficacy and evaluate the safety of WBI-1001 in treating this inflammatory disease. The timely approval was certainly a new landmark we achieved toward the commercial use of WBI-1001.
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is synonymous with atopic or allergic eczema, which is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin disease characterized by intense itching, dry skin, redness and exudation. One common feature of AD is the so-called “itch-scratch-itch” cycle: itchiness propels patients to scratch the affected areas, while scratching further intensifies the itch and damages the skin, which in turn increases inflammation. AD is the most common inflammatory skin disease in childhood, affecting 10-20% of young children and persisting into adulthood in 40 – 60% of cases. There are at least 40 million patients in USA, Japan and five major European countries combined, directly costing the US over $1 billion and the European Union more than €2 billion per year mainly due to loss of productivity.
The predominant method for the administration of eczema drug is topical. By targeting the major pathogenic elements of AD without causing significant side effects, as shown in preclinical studies, WBI-1001 may offer an advantage over traditional topical and symptom based therapies, and serve as a rapidly effective, safe and cosmetically acceptable treatment option.
Welichem plans to start the clinical trial on AD in the first quarter of 2008 and will keep you posted on its progress through future newsletters.
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