Today, the Scleroderma Research Foundation announces the launch of CONQUEST, a highly innovative platform clinical trial designed to rapidly advance promising treatments for scleroderma. Industry partner, Sanofi, will contribute the first experimental agent to CONQUEST.
In its initial iteration, CONQUEST will focus on Interstitial Lung Disease secondary to Scleroderma (SSc-ILD). In the future, the CONQUEST platform will be expanded to address other manifestations of scleroderma.
Based on a model first created over a decade ago to accelerate oncology drug development, CONQUEST is an international, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 platform clinical trial, and is the first of its kind in rare autoimmune diseases. Conceived and led by the SRF, this groundbreaking effort will enroll patients across more than 130 centers in 22 countries.
“I have been involved in numerous recent clinical trials for our scleroderma patients,” says Dinesh Khanna, MD, CONQUEST Principal Investigator and Professor of Medicine, University of Michigan. “It was clear to me that a radical reworking of how we approach clinical trials in our rare disease community was required. CONQUEST is a huge step forward.”
News of the SRF’s launch of this innovative platform clinical trial was featured today in The Wall Street Journal.
