ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: AEN), a developer of innovative medicines for serious central nervous system diseases, announced today that the ongoing clinical trial of its Trimesta (oral estriol) drug candidate has received an additional $409,426 in grant funding from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS). The clinical trial is led by, Rhonda Voskuhl, M.D., Director, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Multiple Sclerosis Program, UCLA Department of Neurology. Adeona also announced that as of March 1, 2011, the clinical trial evaluating the reduction in the rate of relapses in female multiple sclerosis (MS) patients is 85% enrolled.
“We are very grateful to the NMSS for its continuous support of this MS program, from the preclinical development to the pilot and multi-center clinical trials, and now this current grant funding,” said Dr. Voskuhl. “Their commitment to pursuing estriol for MS could potentially lead to a new, safe and effective oral therapy for this debilitating disease.”
This ongoing clinical trial previously received a $5 million grant from the NMSS in partnership with the NMSS’s Southern California chapter, with support from the National Institutes of Health, and $860,440 in grant funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In November 2010, Adeona announced that it was awarded $244,480 under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Program to support research and development expenses related to the Company’s MS program.
The 150-patient, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of Trimesta is currently underway at 15 centers in the United States. Investigators are administering either Trimesta or matching placebo along with glatimer acetate (Copaxone®), an FDA-approved therapy for MS, to women between the ages of 18-50 who have been recently diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS. With 127 out of 150 patients enrolled in the clinical trial by March 1, 2011, the Company anticipates full enrollment by the second half of 2011. Additional information regarding this multiple sclerosis clinical trial is available at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00451204.
About Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Adeona is a pharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines for the treatment of serious central nervous system diseases. The Company’s strategy is to license product candidates that have demonstrated a certain level of clinical efficacy and develop them to a stage that results in a significant commercial collaboration. Currently, Adeona is developing the following product candidates: a prescription medical food for Alzheimer’s disease, and drugs for multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, age-related macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis. For more information, please visit Adeona’s website at www.adeonapharma.com.
This release includes forward-looking statements on Adeona’s current expectations and projections about future events. In some cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “could,” “potential,” “positions,” “continue,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believe,” “estimates,” and similar expressions. These statements are based upon current beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and include statements regarding our ability to produce a new, effective oral therapy for multiple sclerosis and the anticipated enrollment. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in Adeona’s forward-looking statements include, among others, a lack of funding despite the recent grants, our failure to successfully commercialize a new oral therapy for multiple sclerosis, the availability of additional financial and other resources and the allocation of resources among different potential uses,a failure of our clinical trial to complete enrollment in the anticipated time period or to achieve desired results, and other factors described in Adeona’s report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and any other filings with the SEC. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and Adeona undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.
SOURCE Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
