Biotech company Noxopharm Ltd (ASX:NOX) has announced that the first human trial testing SOF-SKN – a novel drug designed to treat autoimmune diseases such as lupus – will begin in Australia next year, leveraging rebates from the federal government’s R&D Tax Incentive scheme. The trial will begin in early 2025 and focus particularly on proving the concept of the skin disease that is caused by cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), with this being reflected in the study’s name: HERACLES (or ‘Harnessing Endogenous Regulators Against CLE Study’). The drug SOF-SKN is a first-in-class oligonucleotide …