Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Active Biotech presented data further illuminating the novel, dual mechanism of action (MOA) of investigational oral, once-daily, laquinimod for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), conferring neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties. Results from several preclinical studies suggest that laquinimod elicits a protective therapeutic effect by reducing demyelination and inducing axonal protection.

These studies expand upon a growing body of data suggesting the mechanism of oral laquinimod in RRMS patients is targeted immunomodulation, and may help contribute to the favourable benefit-to-risk profile associated with this compound.

"MS patients, and the physicians who treat them, await the availability of an oral agent with an efficacy and safety profile required to address the chronic, lifelong nature of the disease," explained professor Wolfgang Bread, head of the Neuropathology Department, the Georg-August-University, Gottingen, Germany. "The seemingly targeted immunomodulation that appears to be associated with the dual MOA of laquinimod and the favourable benefit-to-risk profile seen in patients studied for up to 3.5 years, make the drug a potential candidate to address this unmet need for an oral therapy."

Laquinimod received Fast Track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in February 2009. Two global phase-III clinical trials, BRAVO and ALLEGRO, have completed enrolment and are currently ongoing.

Laquinimod is a novel once-daily, orally administered immunomodulatory compound that is being developed as a disease-modifying treatment for RRMS.

Active Biotech AB, headquartered in Sweden, is a biotechnology company with R&D focus on autoimmune/inflammatory diseases and cancer.