A first-of-its-kind bowel medicine just reached its first patient in China

Inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, is a lifelong condition in which the gut stays inflamed, causing pain, diarrhoea and, for many people, serious complications over time. It affects an estimated 6.8 million people worldwide. In Beijing, InnoCare Pharma said the first person has now received ICP-B161 in an early Phase 1 trial — a new kind of medicine, called a bispecific antibody, designed to calm two separate inflammatory pathways at once, and to be given as an injection under the skin less often because it lasts longer in the body. No medicine targeting both of those pathways together has been approved anywhere in the world yet. In lab studies the approach eased colitis symptoms and was well tolerated; the trial will now test safety in people, step by step.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation