Many companies are racing to deliver an effective oral therapy for MS-- promising sweet relief from the multiple weekly jab wounds the current therapies require. Novartis' entry into this arena is currently called FTY720. Recently released were fresh data from a 6 month extension to the therapy's original Phase II trial.
The results showed that patients taking FTY720 who had originally experienced a reduction in their annualized relapse rate of more than 50% during the first six months of the trial maintained this reduction in the following six months of therapy. In other words, for people who saw benefit in the first six months of therapy, the drug continued to work.
Interestingly, those patients who were originally on placebo during the first six months of the trial and then switched to FTY720 during the latter 6 months showed a 70% reduction in annualized relapse rate.
Finally, greater than 80% of patients on FTY720 for the full 12 months were found to be free from active lesions on their MRIs at the end of the trial.
As we know, a reduction in relapses does not necessarily equate a reduction in disability progression, but it is of course a welcome step demonstrated by this promising data.
Novartis plans to begin Phase III testing by the end of the year, pending FDA approval. If you recall, FTY720 trials were halted after the Tysabri suspension, with the FDA asking Novartis for more information on FTY720's usage in transplant patients prior to continuation.
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