Lund, Sweden (Press Release) – Active Biotech (Nasdaq Stockholm: ACTI) to­day an­nounces that a pat­ent appli­ca­tion for the treat­ment of mul­ti­ple myeloma with the com­pany's com­­pound tasquinimod, to­geth­er with an inter­na­tional search report, will be pub­lic within short on WIPO's (World Intellectual Property Organi­za­tion) web site www.wipo.int. With this appli­ca­tion (WO 2016/042112), treat­ment of mul­ti­ple myeloma with tasquinimod is poten­tially pro­tected until 2035. With the aim to ex­pand the pat­ent pro­tec­tion for tasquinimod, a pre­clin­i­cal pro­gram was per­formed and very good results were achieved in models for mul­ti­ple myeloma. The existing med­i­cal need and the possibility for com­bi­na­tion treat­ments makes tasquinimod, with its unique mode of action, a strong devel­op­ment can­di­date within this indi­ca­tion.

"The pos­i­tive effect on pro­gres­sion free sur­vival (PFS) in prostate cancer, to­geth­er with the com­pre­hen­sive safety doc­u­mentation at hand, makes tasquinimod a poten­tial future treat­ment alter­na­tive for mul­ti­ple myeloma. The com­pany will actively seek a col­lab­o­ration part­ner for the devel­op­ment of tasquinimod within this indi­ca­tion", says Tomas Leanderson, CEO Active Biotech.

Approximately two out of ten thousand people are affected by mul­ti­ple myeloma which means that can­di­date drugs for the treat­ment of this indi­ca­tion can re­ceive orphan drug status. The orphan drug desig­na­tion is implemented to promote the devel­op­ment of drugs that may provide sig­nif­i­cant benefit to patients suffer­ing from rare dis­eases identified as life-threatening or chronically debilitating. Orphan drug status gives easier access to regu­la­tory advice, lower costs for mar­ket appli­ca­tion as well as mar­ket exclusivity if the prod­uct is registered on the mar­ket. During 2016 orphan drug status appli­ca­tions for tasquinimod treat­ment of mul­ti­ple myeloma are planned to be sub­mitted to author­i­ties in the EU and USA.

About mul­ti­ple myeloma

Multiple myeloma is an incurable form of blood cancer where the plasma cells in the bone mar­row grow un­con­trol­lably while other blood forming cells such as white and red blood cells and blood platelets are sup­pressed. This leads to anemia, in­fec­tions, destruction of bone tissue and kidney problems since nor­mal plasma cells are an im­por­tant part of the body's immune defense and the pro­duc­tion of anti­bodies. Five year sur­vival average is below 50 per­cent (National Institute of Health Surveillance Research Program 2005-2011). The total mar­ket for mul­ti­ple myeloma drugs amounted to 7.8 billion USD in 2013 (GlobalData 2015).

About tasquinimod

Tasquinimod is an immuno­modu­la­tory, anti-metastatic com­­pound that indirectly affects the tumor's ability to grow and spread. The devel­op­ment of tasquinimod has pre­vi­ously been focused on the treat­ment of prostate cancer but this devel­op­ment was halted during 2015 after non-satisfactory results from a clin­i­cal Phase 3 trial.

The final results showed that tasquinimod treat­ment resulted in a pro­longed radiographic pro­gres­sion-free sur­vival (rPFS), 7.0 vs. 4.4 months (central assess­ment), similar to an earlier Phase 2 study. However, the pos­i­tive effect on rPFS did not translate into an im­proved OS (HR 1.097, 95% CI: 0.938-1.282). Tasquinimod safety was in general man­ageable and similar to what was observed during the earlier Phase 2 study.

Active Biotech AB (publ) (Nasdaq Stockholm: ACTI) is a bio­technology com­pany with focus on neuro­degenerative/​inflammatory dis­eases and cancer. Laquinimod, an orally admin­istered small mol­e­cule with unique immuno­modu­la­tory properties, is in pivotal Phase 3 devel­op­ment for the treat­ment of relapsing remitting mul­ti­ple sclerosis. Also, laquinimod is in Phase 2 devel­op­ment for the treat­ment of pri­mary progressive mul­ti­ple sclerosis and Huntington's dis­ease. Fur­ther­more, com­mer­cial ac­­tiv­i­ties are con­ducted for the ISI, ANYARA and paquinimod projects. Please visit www.activebiotech.com for more in­­for­ma­tion.

Active Biotech is obligated to pub­lish the in­­for­ma­tion con­tained in this press release in accordance with the Swedish Se­cu­ri­ties Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. This in­­for­ma­tion was provided to the media for pub­li­ca­tion at 8:30 am CET on March 23, 2016.

Source: Active Biotech.