The US scientific journal Medicine has published a report of the first safety and biomarker study of IC14 in patients with ALS-MND. This research provided Implicit Bioscience with the very first look at the potential role of IC14 in dampening the inflammation that is thought to drive this devastating disease.
This study was conducted the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital by Professor Robert Henderson, one of Australia’s leading neuromuscular clinicians. Key members of the Implicit Bioscience team led by CEO Garry Redlich and Chief Medical Officer Dr Jan Agosti are also listed as authors.
Dr Agosti said: “This was the first time IC14 had ever been dosed in patients with a neuromuscular disease and it provided the safety and biomarker data to support our current program of chronic IC14 dosing in patients with ALS-MND at the Healey Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. We are very grateful to the courageous patients who permitted Prof. Henderson and his clinical team to collect spinal fluid before and during the study which gave us the very first look at the effects of IC14 on the inflammatory conditions that drive this disease inside the nervous system.”
Implicit Bioscience CEO, Garry Redlich, said: “Professor Henderson and co-author Professor Pamela McCombe have long advocated for the study of the role of innate immunity in ALS-MND. Since the target of IC14 is regarded as a master regulator of innate immunity, we hypothesised that blocking this target in ALS-MND patients might slow the progression of this disease. It was great to get support from such respected clinical researchers in our home city. We are also very grateful for the visionary support funding from FightMND and its late founder Dr Ian Davis who dedicated the last years of his life to creating breakthroughs such as this. We all owe him and FightMND’s co-founder and patron Neale Daniher a great debt of gratitude for funding this work.”
IC14 (atibuclimab) is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody to CD14 that Implicit Bioscience is developing in neuroscience, cardiology, ophthalmology and critical care. Chronic dosing of IC14 in ALS-MND patients is in ongoing study in the USA. IC14 is also in clinical study in the USA in patients with COVID-19 illness.