VETmAb Biosciences has announced positive clinical proof-of-concept results for VMB-C001a, a long-acting anti-IL-23 monoclonal antibody targeting canine chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE), commonly referred to as inflammatory bowel disease.
A 105-day placebo-controlled pilot study of 19 client-owned dogs demonstrated the following clinical findings:
- 77.8% of dogs achieved treatment success — defined as a greater-than or equal-to 25% reduction in disease activity score without the use of concomitant medications — compared to 30% in the placebo group.
- Among the treated dogs, 11.1% reached full remission, while the placebo group saw no remissions.
- The therapeutic appeared to be well-tolerated, with adverse events in the treatment group limited to a single injection-site reaction.
There are currently no therapies for canine CIE approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. VMB-C001a has been granted eligibility for the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine’s expanded conditional approval pathway, potentially accelerating its commercialization while full effectiveness studies are completed.
Denise Bevers, CEO of VETmAb, stated that the trial data validates the company’s approach of adapting human drug targets for veterinary use, noting the results “are clinical proof that our model works.”