New data on cognitive outcomes with Zinbryta in MS patients

New data show that investigational therapy Zinbryta (daclizumab HYP) provided improvements on cognitive outcome measures in people living with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (RMS).

These results were presented by US pharma major AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) and biotech giant Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) at the 68th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Vancouver, Canada.

Additional data offer insight into Zinbryta’s targeted mechanism of action (MOA), demonstrating that it did not cause broad immune cell depletion and its effects on total lymphocyte counts were reversible within approximately 8 to 12 weeks upon treatment discontinuation.

“We are pleased to present additional analyses from the Zinbryta clinical program. This work provides important insights into the immunology behind Zinbryta,” said Michael Severino, executive vice president, R&D and chief scientific officer, AbbVie, adding: "We are very encouraged by the results we have seen from Zinbryta and are focused on bringing a potential new treatment option to patients who suffer from this devastating disease.”

A post-hoc analysis of exploratory efficacy endpoints from the Phase III DECIDE study comparing Zinbryta to Biogen’s Avonex (interferon beta-1a IM) showed treatment with Zinbryta led to significant improvements across cognitive outcome measures. New 144-week data show mean improvements from baseline on the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (a measure of visual information processing speed and attention in patients) were +6.30 for Zinbryta-treated patients versus +3.09 for Avonex-treated patients; p=0.0024.