2005-04-05
Swedish drug development company OxyPharma has selected a candidate drug (CD) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) from its autoimmune diseases drug discovery program. The selected compound, Rob 895, is now ready to go into a full-scale pre-clinical program.

Rob 895 has been developed from OxyPharma’s patented lead compound B-220, from which OxyPharma has developed several analogue substances, which in animal studies have shown very promising results for the treatment of both MS and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Based on the successful completion of the pre-clinical program for Rob 895, OxyPharma intends to submit a regulatory filing for the initiation of first-time-in-human clinical studies.

The selected compound (Rob 895) is the second drug candidate arising from OxyPharma’s drug discovery program. Last year, OxyPharma selected Rob 803 as its candidate drug for the treatment of RA. OxyPharma is currently conducting toxicological studies of Rob 803 and intends to start Phase IIa clinical studies of the compound in early 2006. Additional research has demonstrated Rob 895 to be a more attractive drug candidate than the lead compound for pharmaceutical development due to properties that include improved potency, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmaceutics.

MS is a chronic, inflammatory condition to the nervous system afflicting approximately 2.5 million people worldwide. Most patients diagnosed with MS are between the ages of 30 and 50, and the disease has a medium duration of more than 30 years. The value of the MS market was USD 3.5bn in 2003, and is growing rapidly.
At present, there are no effective, safe and easily administrated drugs for the treatment of neither MS nor RA. Animal studies indicate that OxyPharma’s small molecule substances can be effective, easy to administrate orally and may be produced at low cost compared to present alternatives for the treatment of both diseases.