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C4X Discovery makes significant progress; hails start of Indivior trial, joins coronavirus initiative

Published: 02:55 25 Aug 2020 EDT

C4X Discovery Holdings PLC -

C4X Discovery PLC (LON:C4XD) chief executive Clive Dix said he is “delighted” by the progress to date of the drug developer as he hailed the start of clinical trials of a treatment for opioid dependence.

It was one of a series of highlights included in the company’s latest business update from which investors also learned the group has begun a new partnership with the GEN-COVID Consortium in Italy.

The collaboration will deploy C4X’s Taxonomy3 platform technology to examine genetic data from coronavirus (COVID-19)  patients to identify genes specifically associated with severe types of the disease.

“The disease continues to spread throughout the world and a clear understanding of how it affects people differently remains elusive. We believe that genetics may play a role in explaining the differences in an individual's disease susceptibility, severity and prognosis,” CEO Dix said in a statement.

“This is a new area for C4XD and we are excited to be working on such an important project.”

Separately, Dix also said that a phase I, single ascending dose trial of the company’s Orexin-1 antagonist, C4X_3256, should be completed by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, its most advanced in-house programmes, NRF-2 and IL-17, “continue to move forward".

One of C4X’s lead NRF-2 molecules, C4X_6746, has shown significant efficacy in a pre-clinical model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), shareholders were told.

“This enables expansion of our commercial discussions beyond those partners already engaged in assessing the programme for pulmonary arterial hypertension and sickle cell disease,” Dix explained.

In a wide-ranging statement, C4X also said:

  • The lead optimisation stage has begun for its oral IL-17 inhibitor programme for the treatment of Psoriasis
  • Significant progress has been made on C4XD's early oral inhibitor programme for the treatment of IBD
  • And the LifeArc risk-share collaboration on an oral small molecule inhibitor programme for the treatment of haematological cancers and inflammatory disease continues to “progress well”

“We remain committed to deliver and drive novel small molecule drugs against challenging targets towards clinical development," Dix said concluded.