TSHR Program

Graves’ Disease and Thyroid Eye Disease

Graves’ disease is one of the most prevalent autoimmune conditions affecting over 2
million patients in the United States and is the leading cause of hyperthyroidism,
resulting in symptoms including anxiety, irritability, tremor, and fatigue. Approximately
50% of Graves’ disease patients develop thyroid eye disease (TED) which is a serious,
progressive and vision-threatening autoimmune condition that can lead to eye bulging,
swelling, pain and blurred or double vision. Both Graves’s disease and TED are caused
by autoantibodies that bind to and activate the thyroid stimulating hormone receptor
(TSHR) on thyroid cells in the thyroid gland (leading to Graves’ disease) and fibroblasts
located behind the eyes (leading to TED).

Oral Small Molecule TSHR NAM for Graves’ Disease and TED

We believe our oral small molecule TSHR negative allosteric modulator (NAM) program
could offer a novel disease-modifying treatment approach that directly addresses both
Graves’ disease and TED by blocking TSHR overactivation caused by patients’ autoantibodies.