ChemoCentryx Announces Initiation of Phase I Clinical Trial for CCX507

ChemoCentryx

announced today the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial for CCX507, the Company's novel, wholly-owned inhibitor of the chemokine receptor known as CCR9. The double-blind, placebo-controlled study will evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of CCX507 in healthy adult subjects. Thomas J. Schall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of ChemoCentryx, commented, "Our CCR9 inhibitor franchise has the unique distinction of advancing multiple orally administered experimental medicines into clinical development. CCR9 has been implicated in inflammatory bowel disease including Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and related disorders. We are delighted that our de novo discovery efforts have yielded a new generation of more potent CCR9 inhibitors, exemplified by CCX507, allowing us to expand the fight against these debilitating diseases."   ChemoCentryx's CCR9 inhibitor program also includes vercirnon (also known as Traficet-EN, CCX282 or GSK1605786), a first generation orally administered CCR9 inhibitor discovered and originally developed at ChemoCentryx. Building upon promising results from a Phase IIb clinical trial which ChemoCentryx conducted for patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease (the PROTECT-1 clinical trial), vercirnon is currently in pivotal Phase III clinical trials conducted by the Company's partner GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).  Data from the first