Immunic Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing selective oral therapies for the treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, presented fantastic developments in the third quarter of 2019.

The company announced the ahead of schedule inclusion of the last patient in the phase II EMPhASIS trial with the lead development candidate IMU-838 in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients. In an interim dosing analysis of IMU-838 in the CALDOSE-1 phase II trial in patients with ulcerative colitis, an unblinded and independent data review committee concluded that the lowest dose of the study was not ineffective and the highest dose was not intolerable. As a result, the trial will continue with all three dosing arms. In addition, Immunic announced the dosing of the first healthy volunteer in the phase I clinical program of IMU-935, an inverse agonist of RORyt, being developed for treating psoriasis and orphan autoimmune diseases. Moreover, Hella Kohlhof, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Immunic, presented data on IMU-856, which has the potential to address one of the putative root causes of inflammatory bowel disease without impairing the immune system, for the first time in New York.

In the first week of November, the company opened an office in New York, which will serve as the headquarters. In addition to Martinsried, Halle (Saale) and Melbourne, New York is the fourth location of the now globally acting Immunic, Inc. The new office is headed by Sanjay Patel, who became the company’s new CFO in July of this year. In addition, two very experienced and respected life sciences experts, Tamar Howson and Barclay A. Phillips, have joined the Board of Directors, which now has seven members.