This Project Grant awarded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), under the Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.846), provides $312,323 to Knoubis Bio Inc. to develop a novel bispecific biologic therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The project aims to target the transmembrane tyrosine phosphatase PTPRS and its extracellular ligand syndecan-4 to reduce synoviocyte invasiveness and inflammatory arthritis, providing an improved disease-modifying anti-rheumatic agent (DMARD) for RA patients. The funding will support pharmacokinetics studies in mice and demonstrate the bispecific biologic's superior efficacy compared to its single components in a mouse model of inflammatory arthritis. This work addresses an unmet medical need for more effective RA therapies and will lay the groundwork for further preclinical development in a potential Phase II project.
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