WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IM Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that Peter Gottlieb, M.D., Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer, will present at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 81st Scientific Sessions, held June 25-29, 2021. IM Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company developing novel, first-in-class therapies targeting human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) to treat autoimmune diseases.
Dr. Gottlieb’s talk, entitled “Genetically Selected Patients for Targeted Immune Therapy,” will take place during the “Personalized Medicine for Immune Therapies in Type 1 Diabetes” session on Sunday, June 27. The session will begin at 2:15 p.m. ET, with Dr. Gottlieb’s presentation taking place at 3:15 p.m. ET.
Dr. Gottlieb will discuss the landscape of therapeutic approaches in type 1 diabetes (T1D), their clinical studies to-date and the potential of genetic targeting within T1D as a novel way to design therapies against underlying biological triggers of disease to achieve high drug response in patients.
While many HLA class I and class II gene variants are known to be involved in conferring risk for autoimmune diseases, none have been tapped for developing immune tolerance or blocking autoimmune responses. IM Therapeutics’ IMT-HALT™ platform enables the development of oral small molecule drugs to block HLA gene variants as the earliest triggers of autoimmunity. HLA-DQ8 significantly increases the risk for T1D and is present in 60% of T1D patients. The Company’s lead drug candidate, IMT-002, has recently completed a Phase 1b study in T1D in patients genetically preselected for HLA-DQ8. The Company expects to announce results of the Phase 1b study in July.
About IMT-002
IMT-002, the lead drug candidate of IM Therapeutics, is the first oral genetically targeted drug candidate to be tested in T1D patients, an incurable autoimmune disorder that affects nearly 1.6 million people in the United States. IMT-002 completed a Phase 1a study in 2020 and has completed a Phase 1b study in T1D patients preselected for the HLA-DQ8 gene variant. IMT-002 is designed to block HLA-DQ8 to prevent the immune system from attacking insulin-producing beta cells, thereby preserving function in newly diagnosed patients, and is being investigated as a once- or twice-daily drug candidate.
About IM Therapeutics
IM Therapeutics is a clinical-stage company pioneering personalized, oral medicines that target human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene variants to treat the root cause of autoimmune diseases. The Company’s IMT-HALT platform enables the development of small molecule drugs using in silico docking of millions of compounds into pockets of an HLA variant where self-antigens may bind to trigger autoimmunity. Selected drug hits are then optimized using proprietary structure-based design and activity screening with cell-based assays for specificity of HLA inhibition. Lead drugs developed against an HLA variant have the ability to block a series of self-antigens and therefore the potential to treat a range of autoimmune diseases related to a selected HLA. The Company is building a broad HLA-targeted pipeline in autoimmune disorders including type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, and lupus. Learn more at www.IMTherapeutics.com.