Orexa BV, a Dutch life sciences company that is developing a new medicine that increases food intake and supports health in patients, announced on Thursday that it has dosed its first patient in a phase two clinical trial in the prevention of postoperative ileus.

The trial assesses if patients that undergo major abdominal surgery will develop less gastrointestinal disturbances and will recover more quickly.

Study 2022-503113-31-00-IN-002 (EudraCT number) is a multi-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to investigate the efficacy of Orexa's lead compound ORE-001. It will enrol 100 to 120 female patients who undergo gynaecologic surgery requiring longitudinal laparotomy. The study runs at multiple centres in Germany with lead investigator Prof Alexander Mustae from Universitätsklinikum Bonn (UKB). The first patient was dosed in Bonn on 11 January 2024 .