C4X Discovery Holdings Limited

PatientSeek identifies a genetic signature that separates a4b7 integrin therapy responder and non-responder populations in inflammatory bowel disease

Progresses precision method for patient selection - the right patient for the right medicine

16 September 2024 - C4X Discovery Holdings Limited (“C4XD”), the immuno-inflammation therapeutics company, today announces the discovery of a genetic response signature that identifies responder and non-responder groups amongst patients with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease (“IBD”), following treatment with the a4b7 integrin antibody vedolizumab.

Clive Dix, Executive Chairman of C4XD, said: “Until now, no currently available biomarker has been robustly validated in predicting response to individual advanced therapies to guide clinical practice for IBD, leaving many patients underserved. Utilising our PatientSeek platform we have now identified a genetic response signature that separates responders and non-responders to vedolizumab, the a4b7 antibody therapy for ulcerative colitis. This is an incredibly exciting first for immuno-inflammation precision medicine as these data clearly demonstrate the power of PatientSeek’s analytical capabilities for patient selection based solely on genetic data. We will utilise the data’s predictive power for use in future clinical trials for our own small molecule a4b7 integrin programme and we will take this precision approach to progress our growing pipeline, including our TNFa and PAD4 programmes.”

Precision medicine has the goal of identifying the right therapy that will be effective in the right patient at the right point in their disease progression. Championed originally in oncology, this approach is now gaining much attention from the scientific and medical community in the immuno-inflammation space.

C4XD’s PatientSeek platform applies a unique mathematical approach to analyse datasets containing patients’ genetic records together with other information such as electronic health records. The resulting data can provide a statistically significant predictive ‘genetic response signature’. Genetic signatures, compared to clinical and omic biomarkers, have the significant advantage of not changing over time and are independent of disease progression.

C4XD has accessed and analysed a large dataset which contains patients who have received vedolizumab and initial data have clearly demonstrated that, for the first time, responders and non-responders can be separated according to a genetic signature based on genetic variation in the non-coding regions of DNA. PatientSeek’s ability to identify genetic response signatures should lead to smaller, less expensive and more successful clinical trials targeting the right patient at the right time for the right drug.

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About C4X Discovery
C4X Discovery (C4XD) is a pioneering Drug Discovery company, combining scientific expertise with cutting-edge technologies to efficiently deliver world-leading medicines. We have a highly valuable and differentiated approach to Drug Discovery through our enhanced molecular design and patient stratification capabilities, generating small molecule drug candidates across multiple disease indications focused on immuno-inflammation. We are advancing our internal portfolio which ranges from early-stage target opportunities to late-stage Drug Discovery programmes and we have two commercially partnered programmes with Sanofi and AstraZeneca, and one clinical stage candidate which has been acquired by Indivior.

For more information visit us at www.c4xdiscovery.com or follow us on twitter @C4XDiscovery.