Redx Pharma identifies candidate for inhibitor programme

Drug-development company Redx Pharma has identified a candidate for its reversible Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor programme.

The compound, named RXC005, has the potential to treat the majority of patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), including those who became resistant to the increasingly used treatment ibrutinib.

RXC005 was equally potent against the most common type of BTK protein implicated in CLL and the mutant BTK protein, which was estimated to be responsible for about 60% of the observed ibrutinib resistance.

Redx's BTK inhibitor could also offer a reduced side-effect profile compared to ibrutinib.

The company would now progress studies to prepare the RXC005 programme for first-in-human clinical trials. These trials were expected to begin in early 2018.

At about 11:31 BST, shares in Redx were up 6.81% to 51p.