Confident Abivax aims to disrupt IBD landscape

Marc de Garidel, chief executive of French clinical-stage biotech Abivax (Nasdaq: ABVX), has good reason for his belief in the company’s pioneering lead asset, obefazimod.

The highly differentiated oral drug candidate, a small molecule, with a novel mechanism of action based on the expression of a single microRNA, miR-124, to stabilize the immune response, has generated impressive data in several preclinical and clinical studies. It has demonstrated safety, profound and maintained anti-inflammatory activities, and today is undergoing a Phase III clinical study in patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC).

Importantly, the data so far suggest that it is well-tolerated, with a long-lasting efficacy in a field where currently available treatments come with a significant risk of adverse events and patients are often refractory to conventional medications.