Inflammation is normally natural and beneficial

Immune cells recognize an infection or harmful substance in the body that needs to be neutralized.

Inflammasomes – groups of proteins in the immune cells –  generate signals that cause inflammation and call other cells to help.

This short term, beneficial inflammation allows the cells to fight and clear the infection or foreign particles, restoring us to good health.

Unwanted inflammation can happen if immune cells are activated out of control

Inflammasomes generate signals calling for reinforcements whenever immune cells are stimulated. Sometimes the cells are over-stimulated, and in this case the resulting overactive inflammatory response can damage healthy tissue, which in turn causes more inflammasomes to trigger and more inflammation.

This leads to a cycle of chronic and debilitating inflammation

We block inflammasome signals, eliminating the root cause of inflammation

Our small-molecule drugs – drugs that can be taken by mouth – block inflammasomes very precisely. By carefully targeting solely the inflammasome, our therapies have the potential to stop harmful inflammation while allowing beneficial inflammation and minimizing side effects.

Imagine a world with effective treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, atherosclerosis and type II diabetes

Clinical and scientific data suggests that inflammation causes many of our most challenging medical conditions. By blocking the inflammasome we stop inflammation from progressing and inflammation-related diseases may never even develop.