SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 3, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Avigen, Inc. (NasdaqGM:AVGN - News), a biopharmaceutical company innovating therapeutics for neurological care, today announced first-in-patient top line data for its investigational neuropathic pain product, AV411 (ibudilast). The data was presented by Paul Rolan, M.D., FRACP, Professor of Pharmacology, University of Adelaide, Australia, at the 10th International Conference on the Mechanisms and Treatment of Neuropathic Pain held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Nov. 1-3. Summary data presented at the meeting showed AV411 was safe and well tolerated in this study at doses up to 80 mg/day. The data also indicated a favorable dose to blood plasma level relationship. Although in this preliminary efficacy trial there appears to be no difference in overall mean visual analog scale (VAS) scores between active and placebo arms, a pharmacokinetic assessment indicates an encouraging correlation between AV411 plasma levels and the number of patients that reported a decrease in pain scores as assessed by VAS. Additionally, there was a trend towards decreased opioid use that correlated with increased AV411 dose.
