Therapy Areas: Respiratory
Alentis Therapeutics Starts First-in-Human Clinical Trial for the Treatment of Liver and Kidney Fibrosis
6 January 2022 - - Switzerland-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company Alentis Therapeutics, AG has dosed the first cohort of healthy participants in a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical trial of ALE.F02, a monoclonal antibody highly selective for Claudin-1, currently being developed for the treatment of advanced unmet liver and kidney fibrosis, the company said.

Alentis is a clinical stage biopharma focused on discovering and developing novel therapies for the treatment of unmet fibrotic diseases.

In the US and Europe alone, about 45% of deaths can be attributed to fibrotic disorders. Fibrosis affects nearly all tissues and organ systems such as the liver, kidneys, and lungs.

Advanced liver fibrosis and associated cirrhosis is the fastest-growing indication for liver transplantation in the United States.

While multiple investigational agents target mechanisms that impact the earlier metabolic stages of the fibrosis development, Alentis is targeting clinically advanced liver fibrosis associated with different etiologies through inhibition of Claudin-1, a recently discovered therapeutic target for organ fibrosis.

ALE.F02 is a highly selective anti-Claudin-1 mAb that recognizes pathological overexpressed and conformation-dependent Claudin-1 epitopes in fibrotic disease.

In preclinical studies, the lead molecule ALE.F02 modulates the function of non-junctional Claudin-1, preventing, and possibly reversing, the growth of fibrotic tissue within the liver and kidney by changing the plasticity of key cell types mediating fibrosis.

Safety studies in non-human primates have supported translatability of the approach into patients.

Alentis Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel targeted therapies to slow or halt the progression of life-threatening fibrotic diseases.

The company was founded in 2019 based on ground-breaking research in the laboratory of Prof. Thomas Baumert MD at the University of Strasbourg and the French National Institute of Health (Inserm).

The company's lead candidates are monoclonal antibodies that are highly selective for Claudin-1, a novel, previously unexploited target with a unique mechanism of action that plays a key role in the pathology of liver fibrosis and fibrosis-driven hepatobiliary cancers.

It also has early discovery programs exploring the potential of Claudin-1 inhibition in the treatment of fibrosis of other tissues including the kidney and lung.

Alentis is headquartered in Basel's pharma-biotech hub in Switzerland with a subsidiary for R and D in Strasbourg, France.
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