Millennium starts clinical program

Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today the start of patient dosing in a clinical program to evaluate a potential treatment for gastrointestinal diseases.

The Cambridge biopharmaceutical company said the clinical program is designed to evaluate such things as the safety and the tolerability of MLN0002, a novel monoclonal antibody that has potential for use in treatments in a variety of gastrointestinal diseases, including ulcerative colitis.

"MLN0002 is one of only a few novel product candidates being investigated as alternatives to anti-TNF and other immunosuppressive therapies for ulcerative colitis and potentially other inflammatory bowel diseases," Nancy Simonian, the company's chief medical officer said in a statement.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)