New Biogen Idec MS Drug May Reverse Eye Scarring

New Biogen Idec MS Drug May Reverse Eye Scarring
January 8, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor

Shares of biotech giant Biogen Idec soared 7 percent Thursday after it announced its closely-watched anti-LINGO-1 treatment showed potential in a Phase II trial to reverse nerve damage commonly caused by acute optic neuritis, an effect which could also be applied to treat multiple sclerosis.

That’s huge news for many patients with MS, who often suffer from the eye disorder, and whose own disease operates in a similar way, which means they could be treated with similarly effective drugs like anti-LINGO-1. Biogen said the drug was effective at the recovery of the optic nerve's ability to transmit a signal from the retina to the visual cortex.

"The study showed no effect on secondary endpoints, including change in thickness of the retinal layers (optic nerve neurons and axons) and visual function, as measured by spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and low contrast letter acuity, respectively," said Biogen in a statement.

Multiple sclerosis causes serious damage and scarring to the protective layer around nerves, known as the myelin sheath. But Biogen’s RENEW study found that anti-LINGO-1 was effective as reversing damage in the optic nerve, a positive sign that it may also work on the brutal nerve damage typical to MS.

"This is the first clinical trial to provide evidence of biological repair in the central nervous system by facilitating remyelination following an acute inflammatory injury," Biogen Chief Medical Officer Alfred Sandrock said in a statement.

If it is successful in replicating those results, Biogen could be taking a bite out of a market that analysts have pegged as being worth $10 billion annually, and help many MS patients in the process. The company has said it expects specific MS data for the drug sometime in 2016.

“We look forward to the SYNERGY results in 2016 to further advance our understanding of this molecule in MS, including a full dose response. The totality of the data from the two Phase 2 studies may provide us with a clearer understanding of anti-LINGO-1’s clinical potential,” said Sandrock.

For the most part, Wall Street remained watchful of the results on Thursday, giving back some of the initial share gain but signaling it will stay alert to any possible potential the drug does have in the future.

"Importantly consensus did not expect statistical significance and did not know what the data could show—so the fact it has some 'positive trends' on improving nerve repair is an interesting concept," RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee wrote in a note to investors Thursday.

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