“This is a major milestone in our strategy to advance our lead drug into a second indication,” said Kevin Giese, president of BioMS Medical.
“MBP8298 has shown potential to significantly delay disease progression in secondary progressive MS patients with immune response genes HLA-DR2 and/or DR4 and we look forward to evaluating the potential efficacy of our lead drug in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients.”
Patients with the immune response genes HLA-DR2 or HLA-DR4 account for up to 75% of the multiple sclerosis patient population.
The objectives of the study are to demonstrate safety and efficacy of MBP8298 versus placebo as measured by relapse rate, MRI activity and disease progression.
MBP8298 is also currently undergoing a phase III trial for the treatment of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, with interim data from this trial anticipated in approximately 18 months.