Dublin, Ireland & Lund, Sweden – 22 January 2026: SelekTx has completed its first in vivo efficacy study in a chronic ileitis model of Crohn’s disease. The study shows that selective antagonism of the cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2R) can reduce leukocyte trafficking to and persistence within the gut, addressing core disease mechanisms upstream of cytokine signalling.
The study was conducted in the TNFΔAREmouse model of chronic ileitis following establishment of fully developed disease, and was performed in collaboration with researchers at the University of Colorado School and University College Dublin.
The study was led by Dr. Calen Steiner, a gastroenterologist and physician-scientist within the Mucosal Inflammation Program of the University of Colorado at CU Anschutz Medical Campus, whose research focuses on translational approaches to inflammatory bowel disease. The programme was conducted in collaboration with Colm Collins PhD, at University College Dublin, who investigates the role of the endocannabinoid system in mucosal immunology and inflammatory disease.
The lead Selektide candidate in the IBD programme, SLKCB09, was administered in a regimen of four treatments over a two-week period to animals with fully developed disease symptoms. Two engineered variants of the drug were evaluated, either with or without a serum albumin-binding domain for half-life extension. Both variants were well tolerated, with no adverse events observed.
In comparison to vehicle control, subcutaneous administration of SLKCB09 had a significant impact on leukocyte trafficking to the small intestine across populations of naïve and effector CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells and CD19+ B cells. This key finding promotes further studies by this team into memory T cell population persistence and the overall impact on resolution of inflammation and tissue damage in the intestine. This preliminary data supports a dual mechanism of action for SLKCB09, a potent cannabinoid receptor 2 antagonist.
Commenting on the study, SelekTx CEO David O’Connell said:
“This first-in-animal confirmation of a mechanistic impact of our lead candidate drug in IBD is a hugely important moment for the SelekTx discovery platform and is a major early milestone in our Crohn’s Disease programme, made possible through our excellent collaborative network that is underpinned by very high-quality science.”
Dr Steiner MD said:
“This is a very exciting moment in the study into new ways to treat Crohn’s, a disease where my patients are constantly demanding improvements over existing modalities. This approach with a completely novel biologic therapy opens up the exciting prospect of earlier intervention in the mechanism of disease pathology with the significant potential to improve the state of the art and provide enhanced quality of life.”
This groundbreaking study creates the opportunity for SelekTx to continue to build the clinical dataset around SLKCB09 for development as an investigational new drug in Crohn’s disease.
About SelekTx
SelekTx is a University College Dublin biotech spin-out project developing a next-generation platform for engineering precision biologics against hard-to-drug disease proteins based on its novel protein scaffold libraries. SelekTx current pipeline focus is on Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Obesity and Metastatic Cancer. Its proprietary Selektide scaffold combines high structural stability with customisable paratope presentation, enabling selective targeting of GPCRs, amyloids, and other challenging proteins. SelekTx’s goal is to license its platform-generated drug candidates to pharma partners, with a focus on chronic diseases where selectivity and safety are unmet needs. For more information, visit www.selektx.com.
For further information, please contact:
Prof. David O’Connell – david.oconnell@ucd.ie
Dr. Kyran McStay – kyran@selektx.com