opicinumab

Biogen Discontinues Development of Opicinumab for MS

BiogenĀ is discontinuing the clinical development of opicinumab,Ā its experimental treatment candidate forĀ multiple sclerosisĀ (MS), based on data from the Phase 2 AFFINITY clinical trial. The announcement, amid a third-quarter report, indicated that the study failed to meet both its main and secondary goals, without further details. The trial,…

#MSParis2017 – Biogen to Focus on Real-world Data from Range of Efforts to Understand MS

In its work on multiple sclerosis (MS),Ā Biogen has adopted a comprehensive approach that ranges from Ā drug development to the exploration of real-world data and digital markers of disease. The company will showcase these efforts at the 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris on October 25ā€“28. Among its more than 80 presentations at the meeting are updates from its collaboration with Verily and Brigham and Womenā€™s Hospital on using digital sensors that gather data on MS patients between physician visits. Biogen will also share data on the possibility of using such biomarkers to help neurologists in diagnosing and following MS patients ā€”Ā offering information that could potentially help them in making treatment decisions given the variability of the disease in MS patients. The company is also involved in a collaboration with 10 MS centers that aims to generate data collected during routine care. The MS PATHS study includes data from physical examinations, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and biological samples. A third and similar project ā€” the Big Multiple Sclerosis Data (BMSD) Network ā€” Ā is merging data from five MS registries, holding prospective information on nearly 140,000 patients. Taken together, these large collections of high-quality, real-world data will help researchers better understand the disease, and so, increase the potential of new treatment discoveries, Biogen says. The company is also working to discover and develop biomarkers that are not digital that may also advance the understanding of MS and its treatment. One such marker is neurofilament light, which signals damage to neuronal axons. Biogen will share data on how this marker changes over time in MS patients. Among presentations focusing on treatment development, Biogen will highlight new efforts with opicinumab . The treatment ā€”Ā intended to repair damage by triggering remyelination ā€”Ā failed to reach it primary goal in the Phase 2 SYNERGY trial earlier this year. Still, Ā data indicated that some trial participants did respond to the treatment. At ECTRIMS, Biogen will present an analysis of the SYNERGY data that identifies factors ā€” including specific MRI features ā€” that may be linked to a treatment response. Ā