Amgen and AstraZeneca's brodalumab meets all endpoints in Ph III study

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) and the USA’s Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) today announced that the Phase III AMAGINE-1 study evaluating brodalumab (AMG 827) in patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis met all primary and secondary endpoints for both evaluated doses.

Brodalumab is the only investigational treatment in development that binds to the interleukin-17 (IL-17) receptor and inhibits inflammatory signaling by blocking the binding of several IL-17 ligands to the receptor. Primary endpoints were patients achieving at least a 75 percent improvement from baseline in disease severity at week 12, as measured by the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI 75), and patients achieving clear or almost clear skin at week 12 according to the static Physician Global Assessment (sPGA 0 or 1).

Two years ago, AstraZeneca acquired rights to a package of five monoclonal antibodies (of which brodalumab is the most advanced), in a deal involving an upfront payment of $50 million to Amgen, the world’s leading independent biotech firm (April 3, 2012).