Sheldon Sloan, MD: The Promise of Etrasimod at DDW
Kenny Walter is an editor with HCPLive. Prior to joining MJH Life Sciences in 2019, he worked as a digital reporter covering nanotechnology, life sciences, material science and more with R&D Magazine. He graduated with a degree in journalism from Temple University in 2008 and began his career as a local reporter for a chain of weekly newspapers based on the Jersey shore. When not working, he enjoys going to the beach and enjoying the shore in the summer and watching North Carolina Tar Heel basketball in the winter.
Arena Pharmaceuticals expects to move forward with later phase clinical trials testing etrasimod.
New early phase data shows etrasimod reduces certain immune cells and behaves as a selective immunomodulator rather than a broad immunosuppressive agent.
Research presented as a poster at the 2021 Digestive Disease Week (DDW) Virtual Meeting, a research team found the selective sphingosine 1-phsophate (S1P) receptor 1,4,5 modulator that reduces peripheral lymphocytes and impedes their recruitment to sites of inflammation, shows promise as a treatment for chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.
The investigators tested the treatment in a phase 1, single-blind pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic study in 49 Japanese and Caucasian men.
Compared to placebo, 1 and 2 mg of etrasimod dosed daily for 7 days produced similar dose dependent reductions in absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) in both subgroups of patients. The treatment resulted in total lymphocytes returning to at least 84% of baseline at day 15.
Etrasimod also reduced the mean percent change from baseline to day 7 in total T cells, total CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, naïve CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, central memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, effector memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, Th2 and Th17 cells, and total B cells and resulted in greater decreases in naïve and central memory T cells than in effector memory T cells.
In an interview with HCPLive®, Sheldon Sloan, MD, Vice President of Arena Pharmaceuticals, explained the promise of etrasimod and what the plans are for future studies.
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