Tolerx, After a Decade and $150M, Eagerly Awaits Data from Big Diabetes Trial
Summary
If the Cambridge, MA-based company has played its cards right, it should have positive results from a pivotal clinical trial of a drug with an unorthodox approach for fighting Type 1 diabetes.Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline signed on to co-develop Tolerx’s lead drug candidate, otelixizumab, back in October 2007, in a deal that could be worth as much as $760 million over time.From the start, Tolerx’s idea was that it could create drugs that could treat autoimmune diseases by training the immune system to “tolerate” the healthy tissues that it attacks in such ailments, which include Type 1 (sometimes called juvenile) diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriasis.The idea of inducing immune tolerance as a means of therapy has long intrigued researchers; Tolerx is pursuing the vision initially in people who are newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.The Defend-1 trial was designed to catch people who were diagnosed early enough that they still have about 30 percent of their beta cells left, which means they only need to take a little insulin to maintain blood sugar control, Ringler says.