Israel's Teva developing oral treatment for multiple sclerosis with Swedish firm

Teva Pharmaceuticals has entered an agreement to develop and commercialize a drug called laquinimod, a novel immunomodulatory compound developed by the Swedish company Active Biotech AB. Immunomodulators are substances that can modify or regulate immune functions. MS is most probably, at the heart, an autoimmune disease, in which the body's natural immune system goes haywire, identifying innocent body tissue as foreign and attacking it. Whether or not the immune system is the source of the incurable disease, it certainly is responsible for much of the damage. The Swedish company's immunmomodulator has the potential to be an orally available disease-modifying treatment of multiple sclerosis, Teva explains. Teva is well-versed in multiple sclerosis, having developed a block-buster drug of its own ? Copaxone, the only non-interferon treatment available today. Teva has been working on an oral version but Copaxone is currently administered through injection. The agreement between Teva and Active Biotech is contingent on the approval of U.S. regulators. "Results from a study of the oral immune-modulating drug laquinimod were presented by Dr. Magnhild Sandberg-Wollheim (Lund, Sweden) on behalf of colleagues in Amsterdam and Sweden...The drug was well tolerated, and those on the higher dose had significantly fewer new active MS brain lesions during the 24 weeks of testing."

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