AstraZeneca to showcase inflammation/ autoimmunity pipeline at ACR

11 November 2014

Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN), with its global biologics R&D subsidiary MedImmune, will present new data from the company’s growing inflammation and autoimmunity portfolio at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2014 Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, this weekend.

Highlights of data being presented include:

Lesinurad: Positive top-line results from CLEAR1 and CLEAR2, the pivotal Phase III clinical trials investigating the potential of lesinurad, a selective uric acid re-absorption inhibitor (SURI), as a combination therapy with xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitor, allopurinol for the treatment of patients with symptomatic gout. The development of lesinurad is potentially important for the 40%-70% of gout patients who are not reaching target levels of serum uric acid (sUA) with the current standard of care.

Sifalimumab and anifrolumab: MedImmune is currently investigating two different anti-type 1 interferon (IFN) approaches in the clinic as potential treatments for lupus: sifalimumab, which targets IFN-alpha, and anifrolumab, which targets the type 1 IFN receptor. Positive results from the Phase IIb study evaluating the safety and efficacy of sifalimumab in patients with moderate-to-severe lupus will be presented in a late-breaking oral presentation. In addition, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data will be presented on both sifalimumab and anifrolumab from two trials of adult Japanese patients with lupus.

Mavrilimumab: Positive results from the Phase IIb EARTH EXPLORER I study evaluating the efficacy and safety of mavrilimumab in patients with moderate-to-severe adult-onset rheumatoid arthritis will be presented in four abstracts, including an oral presentation. Mavrilimumab, currently in development by MedImmune, is a novel human monoclonal antibody targeting the GM-CSF receptor, a key pathway driving the rheumatoid arthritis disease process.

Brodalumab: Data will be presented from an open-label extension of a Phase II study on the long-term efficacy and safety of brodalumab, a human anti-IL-17 receptor A monoclonal antibody for patients with psoriatic arthritis. Additionally, an analysis to evaluate the reliability and construct validity of the Psoriasis Symptom Inventory in subjects with psoriatic arthritis will also be presented. Brodalumab is being co-developed by Amgen and AstraZeneca.

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