Viela Bio Announces Late-Breaking Abstract Acceptance for VIB4920, a Novel Engineered CD40L Antagonist, at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Viela Bio heads to the 2018 American College of Rheumatology / Association of Rheumatology for Health Professionals (ACR/ARHP) Annual Meeting in Chicago, 19-24 October 2018, with a late-breaking poster presentation for a novel engineered CD40L antagonist, VIB4920.

VIB4920 (formerly MEDI4920) is a CD40L antagonist fusion protein without Fc which demonstrated acceptable safety and dose-dependent inhibition of T cell dependent antibody response in a Phase 1a study in healthy volunteers. In this Phase 1b, proof of concept study, VIB4920 significantly decreased disease activity at Day 85 in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis and achieved validated criteria of low level of disease activity or remission in 50%-70% of patients in the two higher doses. The observed dose-dependent decrease in rheumatoid factor together with the previously reported inhibition of T cell dependent antibody responses provides evidence that VIB4920 effectively blocks the CD40/CD40L pathway in humans. Combined with an acceptable safety profile these data support further clinical development of VIB4920 for autoimmune diseases

The CD40/CD40L pathway plays a critical role in driving humoral immune responses and has been implicated in contributing to several autoimmune diseases. CD40L drives activation, expansion, and isotype switching of B cells that ultimately results in the differentiation of plasma cells that have the potential to produce autoantibodies in autoimmune disease settings.   

About VIB4920
VIB4920 (formerly MEDI4920) is engineered as a non-antibody structure without an Fc region that specifically binds to and neutralizes CD40 ligand (CD40L).  VIB4920 blocks the interaction between CD40L expressed on activated T cells with CD40 expressed on B cells and prevents the differentiation of memory B cells and plasma cells. Blocking CD40L also inhibits stimulation of T cells by dendritic cells and fibroblasts, inhibiting production of pro-inflammatory mediators. All these effects make CD40L an attractive therapeutic target in both T cell and B cell driven inflammatory diseases.

About Viela Bio
Viela Bio, headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering and advancing treatments for severe inflammation and autoimmune diseases by selectively targeting shared critical pathways that are the root cause of disease.

For more information, please visit www.vielabio.com.

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