Renovis announces investigational medicine for multiple sclerosis study

Renovis announced today the initiation of a Phase Ia clinical trial for REN-850, an investigational oral small molecule that is being targeted for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).

The objective of this trial is to assess the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of escalating single doses of REN-850 in healthy volunteers. Approximately 45 subjects are planned to participate in the study.

"The Phase Ia trial with REN-850 represents the first step towards establishing safety and tolerability in humans," said Randall Moreadith, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer of Renovis. "Successful completion of this trial will provide valuable data to support a Phase Ib study of escalating multiple doses of REN-850 in MS patients. The Phase Ib study is currently planned to start enrolling subjects in the fourth quarter of 2005."

REN-850 acts by inhibiting leukocyte trafficking and preclinical studies have shown that REN-850 modulates the cell migration driven by multiple chemokine receptors. These studies have also shown that oral administration of REN-850 significantly reduces severity of outcomes in multiple in vivo models of MS and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

"Preclinical data suggest that targeting the actions of multiple chemokine receptors may represent a more effective approach to the treatment of MS and other autoimmune diseases than drugs that are more narrowly targeted," said Tito Serafini, PhD, Vice President of Discovery Research of Renovis.