VETmAb Biosciences Announces Positive Clinical Proof-of-Concept Results for Long-Acting Anti-IL-23 Antibody in Canine Chronic Inflammatory Enteropathy

• In the VMB-C001a group, 77.8% of dogs were considered a treatment success, compared with 30.0% in the placebo group
• VMB-C001a granted eligibility for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) expanded conditional approval pathway
• Five-program pipeline spans gastrointestinal, immune-mediated, and metabolic disease
• Founded by the team that built Kindred Biosciences, acquired by Elanco

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VETmAb Biosciences (VETmAb BIO), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing transformative biologics for pets, today announced positive clinical proof-of-concept results for VMB-C001a. VMB-C001a is a long-acting anti-IL-23 monoclonal antibody for canine chronic inflammatory enteropathy (CIE), often referred to as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). VMB-C001a has been granted eligibility for the FDA-CVM’s expanded conditional approval (XCA) pathway.

CIE is a group of relapsing, immune-mediated conditions that can cause chronic vomiting, diarrhea, and weight loss. It is estimated to affect 1.7 million¹ dogs in the U.S., and gastrointestinal issues are the second most common reason dogs see a veterinarian². There is no approved therapy, and current treatment relies on diet changes and long-term steroids or other immunosuppressants that often fail to provide lasting control.

In this randomized, masked, placebo-controlled pilot effectiveness study, 19 client-owned dogs with naturally occurring CIE received VMB-C001a (n=9) or placebo (n=10) over a 105-day treatment period, with visits at Days 0, 14, 45, 75, and 105. Treatment success required no concomitant medication or supplements for clinical signs of CIE during the study, and was based on percent reduction in average Canine Inflammatory Bowel Disease Activity Index (CIBDAI) Score between Days 75 and 105 compared to average baseline CIBDAI score. Response was categorized as no response (<25% reduction), partial response (25-75% reduction), or remission (>75% reduction)³. Dogs requiring any medication or supplements for clinical signs of CIE, or who were rescued/removed from the study by the Investigator due to lack of efficacy, were considered treatment failures. In the VMB-C001a treated group, 77.8% of dogs were considered a treatment success, with 66.7% showing a partial response and 11.1% in remission. In comparison, 30.0% of dogs in the placebo group were treatment successes with a partial response and no remissions.

Overall, VMB-C001a appeared to be well tolerated. One dog in the placebo group experienced a serious adverse event and was euthanized on Day 105 presumably due to progression of CIE. One dog in the VMB-C001a group yelped upon injection at Day 75. All other adverse events were mild and considered unrelated to VMB-C001a.

VMB-C001a leads a pipeline built on a development approach of engineering pet biologics against clinically validated human drug targets. VETmAb BIO’s founding team built Kindred Biosciences on the same model, which led to a $444 million acquisition by Elanco and four veterinary product approvals.

“Pet owners have shown they will embrace innovative medicines, and the first generation of targeted biologics has created blockbuster categories in veterinary medicine,” said Denise Bevers, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of VETmAb BIO and a co-founder of Kindred Biosciences. “We built VETmAb BIO to lead the next wave by bringing the most powerful mechanisms in human medicine to pets. These results provide encouraging early clinical evidence for our approach, and we believe it can deliver the first approved treatments for major chronic diseases in dogs and cats.”

VETmAb BIO plans to advance VMB-C001a toward pivotal development. XCA could, if conditional approval is granted, permit marketing while the Company completes the effectiveness studies required for full approval. IL-23 is a master regulator of intestinal inflammation, whose inhibitors are among the most effective treatments for human IBD.

The Company is currently advancing five programs, led by VMB-C001a, alongside an anti-IL-23 for feline CIE, an anti-FcRn antibody with pipeline-in-a-product potential across canine and feline immune-mediated diseases, and a peptide therapeutic for canine metabolic disease.

About VETmAb Biosciences

VETmAb Biosciences’ mission is to bring the breakthrough medicines transforming human health to the dogs and cats who share our lives. The clinical-stage company engineers species-specific biologics against clinically validated human drug targets, focusing on large chronic diseases with no approved therapies. Its capital-efficient development model supports a pipeline of five programs in chronic inflammatory enteropathy, immune-mediated disease, and metabolic disease. VETmAb BIO’s founding team previously built Kindred Biosciences, a Nasdaq-listed company acquired by Elanco in 2021, and that led to four veterinary product approvals. VETmAb BIO is privately held and headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, visit www.vetmab.bio.

Contact

Katja Buhrer
Chief Operating Officer
katja.buhrer@vetmab.bio
+1-917-969-3438

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¹ Veterinary Medicine: Research and Reports, 2019
² Nationwide, 2026 (2025 claims data)
³ ACVIM Consensus Statement, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Jan 2026