Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

NVS FTY720 – This makes one down and two to go for the phase-3 program.

To recap: The phase-3 study reporting today was 12 months with an interferon control arm; the two phase-3 studies still in progress are 24 months with a placebo control arm.

Given that 18 months is generally considered the minimum duration for a trial to establish a benefit in disease modification, the two studies still in progress are arguably the most consequential ones. Moreover, these two trials will give a purer read on FTY720’s safety profile than the study that just reported.

Still, this is a promising start. FTY720 beat interferon with ease, even at the lower of the two tested doses where the dropout rate (10%) was less than in the interferon arm (12%).