CibinetideARA-290

Key properties

Approximate values for the native hormone. Engineered analogs are often deliberately larger and far longer-acting.

Mechanism

Erythropoietin protects tissue through a receptor distinct from the one that raises red cells: the innate repair receptor, an EPOR/β-common-chain heteromer that appears on injured and inflamed tissue. ARA-290 is a short peptide reproducing only the helix-B face of EPO that engages this receptor — delivering EPO's anti-inflammatory, tissue-protective signaling with no erythropoietic (hematocrit-raising) action, and therefore none of EPO's thrombotic liability.

Reference notes

• It decouples EPO's two jobs: tissue protection (kept) from red-cell production (dropped) — the entire design rationale.
• Human phase 2 trials targeted neuropathic pain — notably sarcoidosis-associated small-fiber neuropathy — and diabetic complications.
• The evidence is promising but unsettled: an investigational clinical-stage peptide, not an approved drug.

Selected literature

Curated peer-reviewed reviews, sourced from PubMed. Selected for relevance, not exhaustive — open any entry on PubMed for the full record and its primary citations.

1. 1.Cibinetide Improves Corneal Nerve Fiber Abundance in Patients With Sarcoidosis-Associated Small Nerve Fiber Loss and Neuropathic Pain · Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 2017 · PMID 28475703
2. 2.The Non-Erythropoietic EPO Analogue Cibinetide Inhibits Osteoclastogenesis In Vitro and Increases Bone Mineral Density in Mice · International journal of molecular sciences, 2021 · PMID 35008482
3. 3.A Phase 2 Clinical Trial on the Use of Cibinetide for the Treatment of Diabetic Macular Edema · Journal of clinical medicine, 2020 · PMID 32674280