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PLX–IBD for Inflammatory Bowel Disease
(Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis)
Pluristem
has a completed proof-of-principle trial utilizing PLX-IBD, in the treatment
of Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis known collectively as inflammatory
bowel disease (IBD). IBD currently affects 0.5-1% of the Western world's
population. This translates to over one million people in America (525,000
Ulcerative Colitis, 490,000 Crohn's Disease) and four million people worldwide.
Sufferers experience a range of gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhea,
rectal bleeding and abdominal pain resulting in weight loss as well as other
extraintestinal manifestation such as skin and eye disorders. Children with IBD
suffer delayed growth and sexual maturation. Ulcerative colitis is restricted to
the colon and primarily affects the mucosa while Crohn's disease can affect all
regions of the gastrointestinal tract. Crohn's disease extends across the full
thickness of the intestinal wall causing either strictures resulting in
obstruction or fistulas in which adjacent tissue become interconnected.
The Market for PLX-IBD
Because
IBD is chronic and typically has an onset before 30 years of age, patients
generally require lifelong treatment.
The market for treatment of IBD was $1.2 billion in 2002 and is projected to
reach $2.3 billion by 2011. This growth is due to increasing numbers of patients
presenting with IBD and also the introduction of biologics to supplement
existing therapies.
Pluristem’s Proof-of-Concept Trial
Scientists administered
Pluristem’s proprietary PLX-IBD cells in vivo to mice where inflammatory
bowel disease was induced using the intra-rectal administration of
trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (TNBS). There was a statistically significant
improvement in a standard inflammatory histological score in those animals
treated with PLX-IBD given either intraperitoneally or intravenously over
controls or those animals receiving treatment with 5-aminosalicylic acid.
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