Immuron successfully completes first stage colitis preclinical program

Immuron Limited (ASX: IMC), has successfully completed the first stage of its colitis preclinical program at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and is preparing to move forward to the next development phase, in accordance with the research program.

Immuron is pleased to report that IMM-124E showed a significant positive effect on all levels of evaluation within the Acute Model including: Clinical parameters, tissue level parameters (macroscopic and histologic) as well as Immunological biomarkers.

In 2016, Immuron engaged the University of Zurich under the leadership of renowned Prof. Gerhard Rogler, to conduct a threestage comprehensive pre-clinical research program to evaluate Immuron’s leading compound, IMM-124E, within several wellestablished Colitis animal models.

The research program was constructed in a three-stage manner, starting with an Acute Model aimed at measuring the biologic activity of IMM-124E for the treatment of Colitis.

Immuron, together with Prof. Rogler and his team, have evaluated the results and determined the combination of all results showed a significant and clear beneficial biological effect of IMM-124E within the model. Immuron and Prof. Rogler have jointly agreed to move forward to the next stage of the pre-clinical studies.

Prof. Rogler commented;

“The accumulation of the data coming out of this first stage of ourthree-stage comprehensive research program has given us confidence that there is a true biological effect of IMM-124E within the Acute model. This has come as a surprise to some of us that such a safe and simple concept would show efficacy. All of us are eager to continue the research program and obtain more data.

We have been taking part in leading Colitis research for many years and believe that new approaches,such as the one offered by IMM-124E, are critical for the future of Colitis therapy.”

Immuron’s Senior VP Head of Medical, Dr. Dan Peres commented;

“This preliminary data joins our existing body of evidence to show that Immuron’s platform has great potential within Colitis as well as other blockbuster indications. We had previously conducted pre-clinical work using IMM-124E to evaluate its applicability for Colitis showing similar results, but we view the work done at University of Zurich as the pillar for all future research and development in this area.”

Colitis, which mainly consists of Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, is a chronic and often debilitating group of inflammatory bowel diseases that affects millions of people worldwide. The worldwide market for inflammatory bowel disease is expected to reach USD$10 billion by 2021 and is characterized by a high level of unmet need.

It is believed that Colitis is the result of complex interactions between multiple factors that include the environment, genetic predisposition, immune response, and the gut microbiome in the colon or intestines. These interactions can cause abdominal pain, fever, weight loss and chronic, bloody diarrhea. Colitis can have a significant effect on sufferer’s work, family and social activities. In up to one-third of patients with Colitis, treatment is not completely successful, or further side effects and complications arise from current treatment methods. In some cases, surgery to remove the colon (colectomy) is performed. Even after surgery, certain symptoms of Colitis may still persist.

Thomas Liquard, CEO of Immuron Limited, concluded;

“We believe that these results support belief that we are on the right track with our carefully prioritized portfolio of clinical programs and further demonstrate that IMM-124E is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent with beneficial effect on the health of gastrointestinal(“GI”) organs that are damaged by inflammation including the liver, the pancreas and the GI tract.

Immuron’s Board and management team believe in generating fundamentally robust science that has the potential to generate world-class data which can then further support the development of valuable, life-saving therapeutics. This comprehensive pre-clinical Colitis program has been carefully designed with that approach in mind.”