ShK-186 is being developed for a variety of autoimmune diseases and the results from this trial are scheduled to be reported later in 2015.
The trial is designed to evaluate the effects of biweekly injections of ShK-186 for four weeks in patients with active plaque psoriasis.
The company noted that patients are monitored for safety endpoints, inflammatory biomarker activity in blood and skin biopsy tissue and appraisal of psoriasis severity.
Preclinical data has shown that ShK-186 is a selective and potent blocker of the voltage-gated Kv1.3 potassium channel, which is a major channel in the activation of effector-memory T cells, which are implicated in the pathology of many autoimmune diseases.
ShK-186 was the first Kv1.3 specific inhibitor advanced into human clinical trials and it is also being evaluated as a potential therapy in other autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases and eye diseases.
At present, research is being conducted on lupus, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease in conjunction with the Alliance for Children’s Therapeutics, a drug development and funding collaboration between the company and Seattle Children’s Research Institute.