Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Active Biotech, a biopharmaceutical company based in Lund, Sweden, have expanded their clinical development program for laquinimod, an oral, small-molecule, with the initiation of clinical trial that will evaluate the potential of laquinimod to treat primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). Additionally, Teva has screened the first patient in another clinical trial, which will evaluate laquinimod in Huntington's disease. Currently, there are no approved therapies available for the treatment of PPMS or the treatment of Huntington's disease, beyond symptom management, according to information from Teva.

Laquinimod is a once-daily oral, investigational, central nervous system-active immunomodulator with a novel mechanism of action being developed for the treatment of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), progressive MS, and Huntington's disease. The global, Phase III, clinical development program evaluating laquinimod in MS includes two completed pivotal studies, ALLEGRO and BRAVO (both 0.6mg/day). A third Phase III trial, CONCERTO, is currently ongoing and evaluating two doses of laquinimod (0.6mg and 1.2mg/day) in approximately 2,100 patients for up to 24 months. The primary outcome measure is time to three-month confirmed-disability progression as measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS).

Active Biotech is a biochnology company with focus on autoimmune/inflammatory diseases and cancer, which includes laquinimod, an orally administered small molecule with immunomodulatory properties for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, and tasquinimod for the treatment of prostate cancer. In addition, laquinimod has concluded Phase II development for treating Crohn’s disease and lupus. The company has two additional projects in clinical development, Anyara, primarily for the treatment of renal cell cancer and the orally administered compound, paquinimod, for treating systemic sclerosis.

Source: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries