IFB-088 (icerguastat)

IFB-088 was developed by InFlectis BioScience, a small biotech in Nantes, France, which a court placed in judicial liquidation in September 2025. Its former chief executive and finance chief set up a new company in November 2025, renamed Enemsa Pharma in early 2026, which now presents icerguastat as its lead drug and is seeking pharmaceutical partners for ALS. We could not find a public statement explaining how the drug rights moved to Enemsa.

When nerve cells are stressed by misfolded proteins, they briefly slow down protein production to recover. IFB-088 stretches out this recovery period, giving the cell more time to cope. The company says it also dampens a type of glutamate receptor (NR2B-containing NMDA receptors) that can overexcite nerve cells, and helps cells recycle damaged mitochondria. In mice and cell studies it reduced TDP-43 clumps, a hallmark of most ALS.

The Phase 2 trial in France and Italy finished in January 2025. A larger Phase 2b trial has been discussed since mid-2025, but needs a partner to pay for it, and none has been announced. The original company was liquidated in September 2025. IFB-088 has orphan drug designation for ALS from the FDA and the European Medicines Agency.

The trial's main goal was safety, and it was too small to prove benefit. In February 2025 the company announced a statistically significant slowing among the 40 people who followed the protocol (0.95 vs 1.42 ALSFRS-R points lost per month). The later full poster shows this was judged against a loose threshold (p=0.209), that the difference was not significant across all patients, and that breathing results did not differ. A post-hoc adjustment for nerve-damage levels (NfL), because the drug group started out sicker, gave p=0.11.

This is the most favourable result reported. See all key studies for the full picture.

The trial enrolled 51 people whose ALS started with speech or swallowing problems, at 9 sites in France and Italy, and they kept taking riluzole. Two people received the drug for every one on placebo. Stomach side effects were more common on the drug (35.3% vs 11.8%), and serious side effects were similar (23.5% in each group). Seven people died (5 on the drug, 2 on placebo), and two sudden deaths on the drug were judged possibly related.

Enemsa says it is seeking pharmaceutical partners to take icerguastat forward in ALS. It has not announced a Phase 2b trial, a start date, or a partner. Its publications page lists the Phase 2 paper as accepted in the journal Brain, but we could not confirm a publication date.

The only ALS trial finished in January 2025, and no new trial is registered. We found no expanded access programme, so the drug is not available to patients at present.

• IFB-088 Phase 2 in bulbar-onset ALS (NCT05508074) completed · France, Italy