Apitope regains global rights to its novel MS drug from Merck

17 October 2016

UK-based drug discovery firm Apitope Technology says it has regained global rights to its product, ATX-MS-1467, from Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRK: DE).

Apitope, a wholly-owned subsidiary of privately-held Belgian drug developer Apitope International, licensed the drug to Merck in 2009 under deal that could have been worth $203 million to the company, noted that enrolment in a Phase IIa clinical trial of ATX-MS-1467 in relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) was completed by Merck in mid-2015, and the study outcome is expected in the fourth quarter of 2016.

ATX-MS-1467 is a novel therapeutic consisting of 4 short peptides derived from myelin basic protein, a key autoantigen in MS and is designed to induce immunological tolerance of the human body’s T-cells to important autoantigens thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of MS.

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