NEW YORK, Feb. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IMNP), “Immune”, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, and the International Pemphigus & Pemphigoid Foundation (IPPF) announce support for Rare Disease Day and their continued efforts to raise awareness of bullous diseases, including Bullous Pemphigoid.
February 29 is unique not only as a “leap day,” that falls on the calendar as rarely as once every 4 years, but even more significantly as Rare Disease Day. A rare disease, also known as an orphan disease, affects fewer than 200,000 Americans at any given time. Rare Disease Day is a great opportunity to raise public awareness of the 30 million Americans suffering from any of the more than 7,000 rare conditions, 95% of which have no FDA-approved drug treatment. In other words, 1 in 10 Americans, half of them children, may be affected by the isolation and frustration that come with living with a disease that no one understands.
Immune and the IPPF are engaged in a joint effort to provide a cure for some of these patients. Immune is currently running a phase 2a clinical trial in patients suffering from Bullous Pemphigoid (BP), a rare blistering skin disease affecting primarily elderly individuals. “BP is a disease that we often struggle to manage with currently available therapies. Many patients require high doses of drugs that put them at risk for toxicities and serious side effects that may be disabling, rarely even fatal, in this elderly population,” said Neil Korman, M.D., PhD, Professor of Dermatology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. “I hope that the promising collaboration between Immune and the IPPF will bring attention to the need for novel therapeutic options for those afflicted by BP, and I am very excited about the prospect of a better therapy for all patients with BP.”
The IPPF is a patient advocacy organization devoted to providing support, relief and help to thousands of pemphigus and pemphigoid patients and their families around the world through peer support, public and professional awareness, and patient education programs. Will Zrnchik, Executive Director at the IPPF, stated, “The 2016 global theme, Patient Voice, recognizes the crucial role patients play in voicing their needs and in initiating change that improves their lives and the lives of their families and caregivers. This year’s Rare Disease Day events are planned in all 50 states, and in more than 80 countries.”
Aligned with the IPPF’s mission, Immune is committed to improving the quality of life of these patients and their relatives by developing a new drug candidate, bertilimumab that is expected to show efficacy and alleviate clinical symptoms with significantly less side effects. The Phase 2a clinical trial is currently ongoing in Israeli sites, and is expected to expand to multiple sites in the United States following Investigational New Drug (IND) application clearance by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Results from this study and an Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA are anticipated in 2016.
To learn more about this debilitating disease, please download the document “Bullous Pemphigoid (BP)” from the Immune website at: http://www.immunepharma.com, or the IPPF website at: http://www.pemphigus.org/bp-facts/
About Immune Pharmaceuticals:
Immune Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IMNP) is leveraging its immunology expertise to develop highly targeted antibody-based therapeutics to improve the lives of patients with inflammatory diseases and cancer. Immune’s lead investigational drug, bertilimumab, is in phase II clinical development for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis and for bullous pemphigoid, an orphan autoimmune dermatological condition. Other indications being considered for development include atopic dermatitis, Crohn’s disease, severe asthma and NASH (an inflammatory liver disease). Immune recently expanded its immuno-dermatology with topical nano-formulated cyclosporine-A for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Immune’s non-core pipeline includes AmiKet, a late stage investigational drug for the treatment of neuropathic pain. The Company’s subsidiary, Immune Oncology is developing a broad pipeline of early and late stage immunotherapies including Ceplene®, Azixa® and Crolibulin® as well as bispecific antibodies and nanotherapeutics, called NanomAbs. For more information, visit Immune’s website at www.immunepharmaceuticals.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
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SOURCE Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc.
