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Immunic CSO discusses breaking the IBD stigma to mark Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week

Immunic Inc chief scientific officer Hella Kohlhof talked with Proactive's Stephen Gunnion about the significance of Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week. She outlined the challenges of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a chronic and serious condition affecting the digestive tract. "It's not just a regular stomach issue; it's a lifelong disease," she explained, emphasizing the debilitating symptoms such as abdominal pain, fatigue, and weight loss. Kohlhof discussed Immunic's innovative research projects targeting IBD. The company's IMU-856 aims to restore the gut lining's functionality through epigenetic modulation, while IMU-381 focuses on anti-inflammatory properties, addressing different aspects of gastrointestinal health. She encouraged viewers to explore resources provided by advocacy groups like the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation and to talk openly about IBD, helping to reduce the stigma and promote awareness. "Please speak about the disease and inform others to see a doctor if they have symptoms," Kohlhof urged. Stay tuned to Proactive's YouTube channel for more interviews with key figures in science and business. Don’t forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and turn on notifications for the latest updates. #ibdawareness #CrohnsDisease #UlcerativeColitis #InflammatoryBowelDisease #GutHealth #ImmunicInc #MedicalResearch #HealthAwareness #Epigenetics #ProactiveInterviews #ProactiveInvestors #invest #investing #investment #investor #stockmarket #stocks #stock #stockmarketnews

Duration:: 6m
Broadcast on:: 02 Dec 2024
Audio Format:: other

Hello, you're watching Proact that I'm joined by a Munich chief scientific officer, Heather Kolhoff. Hello, very good to speak with you. This week is Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week. Please tell us a bit about IBD, what it is and why it's important to raise awareness of this disease. Yeah, happy to do so. So actually, IBD is inflammatory bowel disease. And this is indeed, it's two different indications in principle. So you have an inflammation in the bowel. It's a chronic inflammation of tissue in your digestive tract. And we have on the one hand side ulcerative colitis. And this is a condition which involves the inflammation mainly in the colon, in the large intestine. And you have ulcers there as well. So in comparison to this, Crohn's disease is an inflammation in the lining of the digestive tract. And also in the deeper layers. So to be honest, much more severe. And Crohn's is most commonly affects the small intestine, but however, it can also affect the large intestine and sometimes even the upper gastrointestinal tract. And the point is with inflammatory bowel disease, it is a chronic and serious condition. It's not just the regular stomach and gut issue that everyone knows. It's really chronic and it's serious. And what personally worries me about this is that it is a lifelong disease. So it means you have a lifelong destruction of the gut. And the gut is so important for pathogen defense for nutrient uptake. So not only for calorie uptake, really for nutrient uptake. So we are dealing with something really serious. And there are around 2.5 million people in the US suffer from inflammatory bowel disease. And unfortunately, the exact course of the inflammatory bowel disease remains still unknown. There are some ideas, but it's not fully clarified. And unfortunately, so far, there's still no real cure for the disease. So therefore, when we are happy to be part of this for this awareness week, and it's interesting because the topic or the name for it, it takes guts to talk about IBD. So let's go there. And it still remains important to raise the awareness. And we wanted to support this with this video, for example. And we want to support breaking the silence and reducing the stigma for the patient. So please, everybody speak about it. What does it mean to suffer from IBD? What are the symptoms? Yeah, actually, it's an early onset. So the onset is in young people. It's a lifelong disease, as I said. And you have to deal with it. So even in young people, it can happen to kids already. And it's a lifelong disease. So most often the diagnosis is in the early adulthood. So from, let's say, 18 on. And it means you start very early. You have to deal with it. And it's not over in a week, like a bad cold or so. So really, it's an emotional toll because the long-term planning is tricky then. If you want to apply for a job, for example, it can happen to you that you're sick for several weeks. And you don't want to discuss it with your future employer, definitely not. So the symptoms are, actually, for the lucky ones who got the diagnosis, IBD is only a mild illness. It can be mild, it can be severe. But for the lucky ones, it's only mild. And for the others, it's really a debilitating condition that can lead to a life-threatening complication. And the symptoms in those ulcerative colitis and incurrence disease usually are characterized by diarrhea, by record bleeding, abdominal pain, fatigue, and weight loss. So no fun. I mean, it's also conducting research in the GI field. What's the current state as hella? Yes, actually, we have two different projects here. One is IMU856. It's an epigenetic modulator, and the other one is IMU 381. This acts more anti-inflammatory. And both projects have relevance for inflammatory bowel disease. And we have two completely different approaches. So we have on the one hand side, the restoration of the gut epithelium that's done with IMU856. It's an epigenetic modulator. And then we approach the anti-inflammatory part with the other project with IMU 381. That's still in preclinical development. But for 856, actually, we have done a phase 1B study in celiac disease, where it's a different indication. But in principle, what is true for all the gastrointestinal diseases is that you have a destruction of the gut's lining, of the upper layers or even of the lower layers. It was IMU856. This restores the functional gut lining and the tightness of the barrier, which is really important in many different GI diseases. Hello. How can people seeing this video support Crohn's and Colitis Awareness Week? I would suggest really looking at the advocacy groups, what they are doing, like the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. This is very interesting what they are doing. So they offer a lot of information on inflammatory bowel disease and on the activities around the awareness week as well. And of course, please speak about it, speak about the disease. If you know somebody, and inform the people that they please should go to the doctor if they have symptoms like this. And have the gust to speak, Artella, as you said. Thank you so much for your insights today. You're welcome. Thank you. As the Munich's Chief Scientific Officer, Ella Kolof.