KS Biomedix: Fitting in the RA crowd

With five rheumatoid arthritis drugs on the market and about 25 others in development, new compounds breaking into the market face stiff competition. KS Biomedix Holdings plc believes its CBF-BS2, a naphthoquinone derivative, has the ability to take market share because it acts early in the disease cascade, is orally available and cheap to produce.

In RA, the synovial membranes for unknown reasons start to express high levels of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, which breaks the di-sulphide bonds in cell membranes. As a result protolytic enzymes leak from lysosomes and cause damage to bone and cartilage. The body responds by producing tumor necrosis factors and cytokines, which exacerbate the disease symptoms...