Inflammation Franchise

Inflammation is a natural response of the body to injury, disease or irritation and is often associated with redness, swelling and pain. These changes are part of the natural inflammatory response that protects the body against invasion by foreign materials.

Inflammatory diseases occur when the body’s immune system attacks its own tissue and causes damage. Two major inflammatory diseases are rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Crohn’s disease.

In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system usually attacks proteins in the hands, wrists, knees and feet that are mistakenly identified as ‘foreign’. Rheumatoid arthritis affects roughly one person in 100, tends to run in families and is three times more likely to occur in women than men.

Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF) is a protein produced by white blood cells that when over-produced, contributes to inflammatory diseases.

TNF is the target of Arana’s lead anti-inflammatory compound ART621, because it occurs early in the inflammatory process and triggers a cascade effect, causing the release of many different inflammatory molecules.