Affibody and Inmagene announce First Patient Dosed in the Global Phase 2 ASPIRE Trial of izokibep for patients with active Ankylosing Spondylitis

Partners will continue to file Investigational New Drug (IND) Applications in additional applications in autoimmune diseases during 2021

San Diego, U.S., Shanghai, China, and Solna, Sweden, August 25, 2021. Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals (“Inmagene”), a leading biotech company focused on the development of therapeutics for immunology-related diseases, and Affibody AB (“Affibody”), a company developing innovative bi- and multi-specific next generation biopharmaceuticals, today announced dosing of the first patient in the global ASPIRE Phase 2 trial evaluating izokibep (IMG-020 or ABY-035) for the treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS).

“Dosing the first patient in the global Phase 2 AS trial is an important milestone for the izokibep program," said Dr. Jean-Louis Saillot, Inmagene's Chief Development Officer. "Working closely with our partner Affibody, the Inmagene team is excited to develop a potentially best-in-class treatment to improve the condition and quality of life of AS patients globally."

ASPIRE is a global Phase 2, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating the efficacy, safety and tolerability of izokibep for the treatment of patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (NCT04795141). Inmagene is responsible for all key development activities for the ASPIRE trial, including protocol design, study implementation and oversight. Inmagene has received IND approval/clearance in the US, Mainland China, South Korea, and Taiwan for the ASPIRE trial.

“The ASPIRE study is an important trial to investigate the efficacy of izokibep for AS patients, leveraging the strong safety data from our prior studies”, commented Fredrik Frejd, CSO of Affibody. “We expect that both Affibody and Inmagene will be able to use the information from this study to advance the program in additional IL-17 driven indications.”