The Company's second Allosteramer™, APG101.10, inhibits the IL1-receptor and is orally active.

The IL1 cytokine is a key signaling molecule during acute inflammation, such as during the flare-ups of rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, gout, type II diabetes and other inflammatory conditions. By shutting off the IL1 signal, APG101.10 aims to turn off the inflammation event. Allostera has proof-of-concept of the mechanism, activity and safety of APG101.10 in several in vitro and animal models. With appropriate funding, the Company could begin a formal IND pro-gram of APG101.10 (ADME, toxicology, PK, etc.) with the purpose of beginning a proof-of-concept clinical trial evaluating APG101.10 to treat patients with acute gout or type II diabetes.

What is gout?

Gout is an extremely painful form of inflammatory arthritis caused by abnormally high blood levels of blood uric acid, affecting nearly 1.6 million people in the US alone. Current medications in development that aim to lower uric acid levels can temporarily relieve symptoms, but almost always result in immediate attacks of inflammation which can occur intermittently for a year or more. There is a significant medical need to develop new agents to prevent the inflammatory attacks of gout, especially in patients receiving uric acid lowering agents. IL1 blockade has recently been determined to work extremely well in this setting prompting a sudden surge of interest in IL1 blockade for gout. However, all agents on the market or in development for IL1 blockade are injectable agents. AGP101.10 is inherently orally active.

APG101.10 for type II diabetes

We also believe APG101.10 could have interesting potential as an oral agent for type II diabetes. Recent data with an IL1 monoclonal antibody has demonstrated that IL1 may be an excellent disease-modifying target for type II diabetes. All disease-modifying agents marketed to date, however, are administered by injection whereas APG101.10 would be oral. Type II diabetes affects an estimated 7% of the US population, or 21.2 million people, of which an estimated 16.1 million people are believed to be not yet diagnosed. The total cost of diabetes to the US health care system is estimated to be $174 billion including $116 billion of direct costs, making type II diabetes one of the most costly diseases to the health care system.