Bridge Biotherapeutics announced that the first subject has been dosed in the China Phase I clinical trial of BBT-401, a small molecule inhibitor of Pellino-1, which is believed to play a significant role in inflammatory signaling pathways. For the development of BBT-401, Bridge Biotherapeutics received Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance from the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in December 2019 and activated the Chinese clinical study after improving the drug formulation with enhanced drug delivery to the ileum and colon. The China Phase I clinical study of BBT-401, composed of both single and multiple ascending dose studies, evaluates the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics data collected from 30 adult subjects with no significant health problems relevant to the drug candidate and the study. The Fifth People's Hospital of Chengdu has been selected as the clinical trial site for the study. In December 2018, Bridge Biotherapeutics entered into a strategic alliance agreement with Daewoong for the development and commercialization of BBT-401 in 22 countries across Asia, including China. With the launch of the Chinese clinical study, both companies are expected to further accelerate business development activities in the Asian territories where there is a heightened demand for an effective therapy. BBT-401, an investigational drug with the potential to exhibit treatment efficacy in inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis, is a GI-tract restricted small molecule Pellino-1 inhibitor. Pellino proteins serve as scaffold proteins that bind to proteins in inflammatory signaling pathways, including IRAK4, MyD88 and to RIPK1 in various physio-pathological conditions. The drug candidate is currently in the multinational Phase 2a, mid to high dose cohort study in the US, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Poland and Ukraine.