Absci has opened the curtains on STORYLINE, the Phase 2 clinical trial it intends to run for ABS-201 in endometriosis. The investigational antibody blocks the prolactin receptor and came out of the company’s generative AI design platform, which makes this a clinical test of a molecule a model proposed rather than one chemists drew.
Enrollment would reach roughly 150 patients across about 10 countries, and participants must carry a surgical diagnosis of endometriosis plus moderate to severe endometriosis-associated pain. The design is double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled, with a run-in period ahead of treatment. What the study measures is whether patients report less dysmenorrhea and less non-menstrual pelvic pain.
A non-hormonal route
Ransi Somaratne, the company’s chief medical officer, frames prolactin receptor blockade as a non-hormonal route to pain control, and he points out how few existing treatments resolve the pain this condition causes.
Timing hinges on an earlier study. Absci expects to start STORYLINE in mid-2027, once safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic data arrive from HEADLINE, its ongoing earlier-stage trial. The protocol is dose-ranging, and the two or three dose levels will be settled only after those results are reviewed.
ABS-201 is also in development for pattern hair loss, so Absci gets two shots at one molecule. The schedule is a reminder of the distance between a model’s design and a mid-stage human trial: the readouts that would justify a larger program remain years away.
