Genzyme’s Alemtuzumab Shows Durable Treatment Benefit In Four-Year Phase 2 Trial

Genzyme has reported that a four-year follow-up data from its completed phase 2 multiple sclerosis (MS) trial continued to show durable reductions in relapse rate and sustained accumulation of disability, three years after the majority of patients received their last course of the investigational compound – alemtuzumab.

The CAMMS223 phase 2 trial compared alemtuzumab to an approved MS therapy Rebif (interferon beta-1a) in early, relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients, who had received no prior therapy.

In the trial, alemtuzumab was given to patients in two or three annual cycles of not more than five days per cycle, while Rebif was given to patients three-times per week, every week for three years.

The four-year analysis of early RRMS patients from the CAMMS223 trial found that patients taking once-yearly cycles of alemtuzumab reduced their risk of relapse by 72% and the risk of sustained accumulation of disability by 73%, compared to patients treated with the active comparator, Rebif.

Alasdair Coles, a lead investigator of the phase 2 clinical trial, said: “These longer-term phase 2 data showed durable reductions in the occurrence of relapses and the accumulation of disability, extending for several years after patients’ last treatment. These findings confirm the extended duration of response observed in our pilot studies with alemtuzumab in patients with relapsing MS.”