Santhera gets exclusive rights from NIH for novel approach to pp multiple sclerosis treatment

Swiss Santhera Pharmaceuticals (SIX: SANN) says that it has obtained an exclusive license from the USA’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) to its rights on a patent granted in the USA for the use of idebenone for the treatment of primary progressive multiple sclerosis (ppMS), a currently untreatable disease affecting about 40,000 patients in the USA.

The NIH is investigating the efficacy of Catena (idebenone) in ppMS in a placebo-controlled Phase I clinical trial. Santhera currently has a Phase III DELOS study running of orally administered Catena in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD; The Pharma Letter April 16).

Led by the Neuroimmunology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the NIH is investigating the efficacy of idebenone in patients with ppMS in a double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical trial (IPPoMS trial). Santhera is providing study medication under a clinical trial agreement which gives Santhera the rights to the results. Santhera has now obtained the exclusive rights to the use patent for idebenone in ppMS granted in the USA.