GlycoMimetics, Inc. announced positive initial safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic results from a Phase 1a study of GMI-1687 in healthy volunteers. This double-blind, single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled, sequential, single ascending dose Phase 1a trial in healthy adult volunteers enrolled 40 subjects. Discovered and developed by GlycoMimetics, GMI-1687 is a highly potent E-selectin antagonist that is bioavailable after subcutaneous administration.

This second-generation compound has potential application in inflammatory diseases, and the company's initial clinical development will focus on SCD. E-selectin is believed to play a major role in VOCs, vascular clots and blockages that cause pain crises in people living with the disease. Administration of GMI-1687 by subcutaneous injection, if successfully developed in the clinic, may enable this study drug to be approved as a patient controlled, point-of-care treatment option at time of VOC onset.

There currently exists no FDA approved treatment for acute onset of painful and debilitating VOCs.