Nucleome Therapeutics has nominated its first preclinical development candidate, marking a key research and development milestone for the Oxford-based company’s inflammation-focused pipeline.

The candidate, NTP464, is part of a first-in-class monoclonal antibody agonist programme targeting inflammation resolution mechanisms across chronic inflammatory diseases. The programme will now progress toward IND-enabling studies, following selection from Nucleome’s discovery platform.

The announcement represents pipeline and preclinical R&D news, rather than clinical trial or regulatory activity.

NTP464 targets a novel inflammation checkpoint identified through Nucleome’s proprietary non-coding genetics platform. The company said its approach focuses on understanding how genetic variation affects three-dimensional genome interactions that regulate protein-coding genes involved in inflammatory pathways.

According to Nucleome, dysregulation of this checkpoint contributes to impaired inflammation resolution in autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and inflammatory bowel disease.

The monoclonal antibody candidate demonstrated activity in multiple preclinical in vitro assays, the company said, including inhibition of B cell, T cell and macrophage activation alongside promotion of regulatory T cell suppressive activity. Nucleome said the programme introduces a new therapeutic principle aimed at restoring inflammation resolution rather than suppressing immune responses.

Mark Bodmer, ceo of Nucleome Therapeutics, said the nomination of the company’s first development candidate reflects progress across both its technology platform and pipeline.

“2025 marked a year of great progress for Nucleome, both for our genetics discovery technology and pipeline,” Bodmer said. “The nomination of our first development candidate, NTP464, is a major step forward for Nucleome and is a powerful example of what is possible when our platform intersects with therapeutic design.”

He added that the company’s work in non-coding genetics has enabled deeper insight into the molecular drivers of inflammatory disease.

“We have created the most comprehensive physical map of molecular mechanisms in inflammatory disease and continue to enhance this with emerging data,” Bodmer added.

Nucleome’s platform combines its Micro Capture-C technology with computational and machine learning approaches to analyse gene regulation driven by three-dimensional genome architecture. The company said recent advances now allow interactions between gene promoters and regulatory elements to be measured at base-pair resolution in a single experiment.

Application of this technology to inflammatory diseases has generated a proprietary atlas of molecular drivers informed by human non-coding genetic variation. Nucleome said it uses this data to prioritise target–indication pairs based on predicted probability of clinical success, including retrospective identification of targets associated with approved therapies.

The company said it is continuing to mine this dataset to build a pipeline of genetically supported targets and to identify mechanistically defined patient subgroups across inflammatory disease indications.

Nucleome also said its platform and drug candidates are supported by an expanding patent portfolio, including patents granted in 2025 covering its Micro Capture-C and Variant Functional Validation technologies.