Founded about a year ago to develop treatments for celiac disease, Alvine Pharmaceuticals Inc, recently raised $21 million in its Series A round to advance its lead product through proof of concept studies.
Celiac disease is an inherited autoimmune disease triggered by the consumption of foods containing gluten, a cereal grain protein. Considered fairly common, affecting as many of ine in 100 people in the US, it has historically been under-diagnosed with no available drug therapy. The only option for most celiac patients is to eliminate gluten from their diet, but that's not an easy feat given that it's found in so many foods, generally anything containing wheat or flour.
Alvine, which gets its name from a medical term referring to gastrointestinal activity, aims to develop a drug therapy that would allow celiac patients to consume "reasonable quantities" of gluten.
The company's lead product, ALV001, is a protease is expected to enter the clinic next year as a oral product, designed to be taken with food to break down and detoxify gluten. It accelerates the digestion of gluten before it arrives in the small intestine.
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