Study finds little difference in Copaxone v Rebif trial

TwistedHelix · Post by **TwistedHelix** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:56 am

Merck KGaA's Rebif multiple-sclerosis drug is not superior to rival Teva's Copaxone, a study obtained by Reuters on Wednesday showed.
"The number of events (relapses) was insufficient to establish a statistically significant difference between the two products, despite a trend advantage for Rebif," the report said.

The 96-week Phase IV study involving almost 800 patients will be presented at the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Prague.

Merck inherited Rebif through its recent 10.2 billion-euro ($14 billion) acquisition of Swiss biotech company Serono.

Serono had hoped to gain market share from Copaxone in the case of a positive outcome from the head-to-head study.

TwistedHelix · Post by **TwistedHelix** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:50 am

Grr! I've just seen Dignan posted this on General Discussion a few minutes earlier...ah well

LisaBee · Post by **LisaBee** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:06 pm

That's okay Twisted, I'll keep you company here.....

I wonder what the study cost. It is a very discouraging use of resources.

I just wish the companies would all agree that all the CRABs are about equally limited in their efficacy and move on.

If they are going to mess around with the CRABs, they would be better off spending it figuring out which subgroups are best helped by their drug. That would be useful research.

TwistedHelix · Post by **TwistedHelix** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:07 am

Very true, Lisa, I suppose that finding out who is and isn't helped by a particular therapy would be an enormous step forward towards finding out how the therapy works, and thus more about the disease process – sounds like a win - win situation; let's hope it happens soon