TEVA ANNOUNCES RESULTS OF MS DRUG TRIAL

Teva Pharmaceutical announced that a Phase IIb study designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of laquinimod in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) patients met its primary end-point.

Laquinimod treatment significantly reduced the rate of inflammatory disease activity, as measured by the cumulative number of Gadolinium-enhancing lesions on brain MRI scans after 36 weeks of treatment. Laquinimod treatment also demonstrated a considerable reduction in the number of clinical relapses compared with placebo. This multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolled approximately 300 patients in eight European countries and in Israel.

The evaluation of the safety and side-effect data confirmed the favorable safety profile that was seen in earlier Phase II trials. The majority of the patients who participated in the study are continuing treatment with laquinimod in an ongoing, blinded extension study.

Laquinimod is a once-daily, orally administered immunomodulatory compound developed as a disease-modifying treatment for MS. Active Biotech developed laquinimod and licensed it to Teva in June 2004.