Empowered Patient Podcast Dual-Action Small Molecule Targets Neuroinflammation and Neuroprotection in Multiple Sclerosis with Dr. Daniel Vitt Immunic Therapeutics
Dr. Daniel Vitt, the CEO of Immunic Therapeutics, is taking a different approach to treating autoimmune diseases, focusing on neuroprotection, gut barrier restoration, and anti-inflammatory effects. These dual-mechanism small-molecule drugs are initially developed for multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel diseases. The lead candidate for MS aims to reduce relapses, slow disease progression, and help prevent reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus due to the antiviral properties of the oral drug.
Daniel explains, "If you look back over the last 20 years, maybe even longer, you figure out that there have been limited improvements in treating big chronic indications like autoimmune diseases. Specifically, looking from the patient’s point of view, there are a lot of things missing. So, there are a lot of indications that are untreatable or not sufficiently solving the medical need or a lack of convenience for use, for example. Another thing that is highly underestimated usually is the safety and tolerability of the drugs. And it's our mission to work on having better drugs with better safety and tolerability profiles to offer patients more convenient and easy-to-use therapies."
"That is something currently not addressed by the drugs available for patients today. Therefore, our drug is making a difference because our mode of action is a dual mode of action. On the one hand, the molecule is a potent anti-inflammatory drug by inhibition of a protein called DHODH. Secondly, we also have our molecule, a very good activator of a protein called Nurr1. This is a neuroprotective factor and plays an important role in the different areas of the brain, directly in the neurons in the brain, but also in the environment of the brain. That is why we believe Nurr1 activation is a key step forward to treating patients and offering a better benefit for slowing down the disability."
"This is because quality of life is one of the important parameters for judging whether a drug does its job or not. We need to address this more in our industry, and therefore, I agree that it's an important piece. And with gut wall repair, you're more on the side of ok, maybe we can fix the problem in general and the body returns to normal behavior. So, in a perfect world, in further clinical trials, we can see cases of patients who maybe flip back to healthy status or disease-free status or something like that, for example, in celiac disease or other GI indications."
#ImmunicThera #MultipleSclerosis #MS #AutoimmuneDiseases #InflammatoryDiseases #EpsteinBarrVirus #UlcerativeColitis #IBD