Release Details

Study to Evaluate IRAK4 Levels in Skin and Blood and Relationship to Inflammatory Biomarkers and Disease Stage

Cambridge, Mass. (June 3, 2020) – Kymera Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company pioneering targeted protein degradation to invent breakthrough protein degrader medicines for patients, today announced that the company has initiated enrollment in a non-interventional trial evaluating IRAK4 expression in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and atopic dermatitis (AD). Kymera is developing potent and selective orally administered IRAK4 degraders for the treatment of toll-like receptor (TLR)/interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R)-driven autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases.

“We are thrilled to have started enrollment in this non-interventional trial at York Dermatology Clinic, working closely with Dr. Alavi, one of the world’s leading experts in HS and inflammatory skin conditions,” said Jared Gollob, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Kymera Therapeutics. “The information from this study will further our understanding of the role of IRAK4 in the pathogenesis of HS as well as AD, another TLR/IL-1R-driven inflammatory skin disease and set the stage for future interventional trials in these patient populations using our IRAK4 degraders.”

Conducted in collaboration with Dr. Afsaneh Alavi at York Dermatology Clinic and Research Center in Ontario, Canada, the non-interventional trial in patients with HS and AD is designed to examine IRAK4 expression in both diseased and normal skin and blood and its relationship to inflammatory biomarkers and disease stage. Kymera has plans to advance its lead compound into the clinic in healthy volunteers in the first half of 2021.

“We have a commitment to patients to further define the central role of our targets in diseases of high unmet need before advancing to the clinic. This study will further our understanding of the biology while optimizing our drug development platform through determination of target expression and PK/PD relationships in patients as early as possible,” said Nello Mainolfi, PhD, co-founder, President and CEO of Kymera Therapeutics.

The trial will enroll up to 30 HS patients with mild, moderate and severe disease, as well as up to 10 AD patients. Patient participation in the study will consist of a single visit to the clinic for evaluation of disease status, skin biopsies, blood draws and collection of medical history. IRAK4 levels and production of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines and acute phase reactants will be measured in skin and blood. Tissues will also be treated ex-vivo to determine Kymera’s IRAK4 degrader effects on IRAK4 levels and on the production of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines.

“TLR stimulation and IL-1 family cytokines play important roles in the biology of both HS and AD, making IRAK4 an attractive target for the treatment of these diseases,” said Dr. Afsaneh Alavi. “We welcome this opportunity to study the expression of IRAK4 and its relationship to inflammation in these patients, as this knowledge will facilitate the development of promising IRAK4-targeted therapeutics such as IRAK4 degraders.”

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About Kymera Therapeutics
Kymera Therapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering a transformative new approach to treating previously untreatable diseases. The company is advancing the field of targeted protein degradation, accessing the body’s innate protein recycling machinery to degrade dysregulated, disease-causing proteins. Powered by Pegasus™, a game-changing integrated degradation platform, Kymera is accelerating drug discovery with an unmatched ability to target and degrade the most intractable of proteins, and advance new treatment options for patients. For more information visit, www.kymeratx.com.

About Pegasus™

Pegasus™ is Kymera Therapeutics’ proprietary protein degradation platform, created by its team of experienced drug hunters to improve the effectiveness of targeted protein degradation and generate a pipeline of novel therapeutics for previously undruggable diseases. The platform consists of informatics-driven target identification, novel E3 ligases, proprietary ternary complex predictive modeling capabilities, and degradation tools.