Marina Biotech said this week that it has completed enrollment of the first cohort in a phase I study of its RNAi-based treatment for its familial adenomatous polyposis treatment CEQ508.
The drug uses orally delivered attenuated Escherichia coli to transcribe shRNAs targeting beta-catenin, an oncogene that plays a role in the development of colorectal polyps that characterize the disease. The company began the clinical trial last month (GSN 3/17/2011).
"We're into our second week of drug administration with our first patient and anticipate dosing the subsequent two patients in this group in the coming weeks,” Daniel Chung, a clinician at Massachusetts General Hospital and the phase I trial's principal investigator, said in a statement.