Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEPH), the world leader in the development of a new class of small molecule compounds based on endogenous steroid hormones, announced that it has commenced a Phase I/II clinical trial with its oral drug candidate TRIOLEX™ (HE3286) in ulcerative colitis (UC) under an Investigational New Drug application (IND) cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this indication. The Phase I/II dose ranging study will evaluate the safety, tolerance, pharmacokinetics and activity of TRIOLEX when administered orally for 28 days to patients with active, mild-to-moderate UC.

In previously reported data presented at the 3rd International Conference on Autoimmunity last October, TRIOLEX showed significant (p