Genentech and Biogen Idec’s cancer drug Rituxan failed to slow the disabling effects of the most difficult form of multiple sclerosis in a large clinical trial, the companies said Monday.
Rituxan failed to reach its main goal of slowing disability for people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis after almost two years of treatment, compared with a placebo, the companies said. If the trial had succeeded, it would have made Rituxan the first drug to work against the primary progressive form of multiple sclerosis.
Rituxan, a blood-cancer drug that is also approved for rheumatoid arthritis, generated $2.29 billion in sales in the United States in 2007. It is designed to work by killing inflammatory B cells, a different approach from approved multiple sclerosis drugs. About 400,000 people in the United States have multiple sclerosis, and one in 10 have the primary progressive form that gradually damages nerve fibers over time without remissions, according to the National MS Society.
”While the primary results are not what we had hoped, we continue to believe in the potential of B cell therapy for patients living with MS,” said Michael Panzara, Biogen’s vice president and chief medical officer of its neurology strategic business unit.
The companies plan to continue analyzing the results and submit them at a medical meeting, the companies said.
©2008 The New York Times Company ©2008 Christian MS Society. All right reserved.
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