Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN, NASDAQ:SLN) has begun treating the first patient in the phase I study of its lead asset.
SLN124 is being developed for the treatment of types of anaemia, the blood disorder thalassemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of cancer.
Researchers at the Jordan University Hospital, Amman, kicked off the GEMINI II programme. It is one of 25 trial sites that will help assess the safety, tolerability and the body’s reaction to the drug. Interim data from the study is expected in the second half.
Giles Campion, the company’s head of R&D and chief medical officer, said the trial's start was an “exciting milestone in the development of SLN124”.
“It is the result of many years of hard work to engineer a durable, precisely targeted molecule with the aim to reduce anaemia by increasing the naturally occurring hormone, hepcidin - a key regulator of iron balance in the body,” he added.
Silence is a specialist in the development and delivery of short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) therapeutics that help modulate certain disease-causing genes.