Trethera Secures $1.8 Million NIH Grant to Advance Crohn's Disease Treatment Development

What's Happening?

Trethera Corporation, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, has been awarded a $1.8 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to further develop its lead drug candidate, TRE-515, for the treatment of Crohn's disease. TRE-515 is an orally administered capsule that inhibits deoxycytidine kinase (dCK), an enzyme crucial to the deoxyribonucleoside salvage pathway, which is implicated in abnormal cell proliferation in autoimmune diseases like Crohn's. This funding follows a previous $400,000 NIH grant and builds on promising preclinical data presented at the 2025 Crohn's & Colitis Congress, where TRE-515 demonstrated superior performance compared to Johnson & Johnson's Stelara in blocking inflammatory bowel disease symptoms in mice.

Why It's Important?

The development of TRE-515 is significant as Crohn's disease affects over 1 million Americans and presents a high unmet medical need due to the limitations of current therapies. Up to one-third of patients do not respond to first-line treatments, and nearly half lose response within five years. TRE-515's innovative approach targets a metabolic vulnerability in autoreactive immune cells, offering a potentially safer and more effective treatment option. The NIH's continued support underscores the drug's potential to transform patient outcomes, not only for Crohn's disease but also for other conditions like solid tumors and ALS, where TRE-515 is being evaluated in clinical trials.

What's Next?

Trethera plans to accelerate the development of TRE-515 as a first-in-class therapy for Crohn's disease, leveraging the NIH grant to conduct further preclinical studies. The company aims to address the high unmet medical needs of Crohn's patients and explore TRE-515's application in other diseases. The drug's favorable safety profile and oral administration make it an attractive candidate for commercialization. Trethera's development program represents a broad platform with dual potential across cancer and inflammatory diseases, promising to transform patient outcomes.

Beyond the Headlines

The development of TRE-515 highlights the importance of targeting metabolic pathways in treating autoimmune diseases and cancers. By inhibiting dCK, TRE-515 addresses a key metabolic vulnerability, offering a novel approach that could lead to more personalized and effective treatments. The drug's potential to be used as a monotherapy or in combination with other treatments could revolutionize the management of diseases that rely on the nucleoside salvage pathway for tumor growth or immune cell proliferation.