ROME (ITALPRESS) – New data, presented during a late-breaking session at the 2023 Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) annual meeting, demonstrate that frexalimab, Sanofi’s new second-generation anti-CD40L antibody, with a unique mechanism of action, significantly reduced disease activity in a Phase 2 study of patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS). After 12 weeks of therapy, the number of new T1 gadolinium-enhancing (GdE) lesions was reduced in the higher and lower dose treatment arms compared to placebo, meeting the primary endpoint of the study.
In MS, there remains an unmet need for highly effective and well-tolerated treatment options that provide sustained control of disease activity and disability progression while minimizing risks. The first second-generation anti-CD40L antibody to show efficacy in MS, frexalimab is thought to block the CD40/CD40L costomolatory cellular pathway required for the activation and function of adaptive (T and B cells) and innate (macrophage and dendritic cells), without lymphocyte depletion.
“Building on our 20 years of research and development in Multiple Sclerosis, we are committed to growing our robust pipeline of MS therapies by exploring multiple therapeutic approaches with unique MOAs that have the potential to slow or halt the disability, which remains today one of the largest unmet medical needs in Multiple Sclerosis,” says Erik Wallstròm, MD, PhD Global Head of Neurodevelopment, Sanofi
Per Gavin Giovannoni, MD, PhD, FCP, FRCP, FRCPath Chair of Neurology, Blizard Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London “Frexalimab has a unique mechanism of action, which blocks the costimulatory pathway CD40/CD40L, believed to regulate the activation and function of both adaptive and innate immune cells, a pathway that is critical in the pathogenesis of MS. We are excited by the results obtained with frexalimab in just 3 months, which demonstrate that CD40L inhibition rapidly controls disease activity without lymphocyte depletion.”
The pivotal MS studies are scheduled to start in 2024.
– photo by agenziaphotogramma.it –
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