Immunic Inc (NASDAQ:IMUX) announced that data from its Phase 2 EMPhASIS trial of nuclear receptor-related 1 (Nurr1) activator, vidofludimus calcium (IMU-838), in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) has been presented at MSMilan 2023, the 9th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting by Dr. Robert Fox.
Staff Neurologist at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Vice-Chair for Research at the Neurological Institute of the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, Dr. Fox has served as Coordinating Investigator in Immunic’s MS programs.
Vidofludimus calcium is a small-molecule investigational drug being developed by Immunic as an oral next-generation treatment option for patients with MS and other chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
"The neurologic biomarker NfL has been consistently found to correlate with both clinical relapses as well as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) disease activity in MS patients," Dr. Fox said in a statement.
"In the EMPhASIS trial, treatment with vidofludimus calcium was associated with a decrease in serum NfL compared to placebo in the overall study population, and even among subjects with no MS activity during the study."
Immunic CEO Dr Daniel Vitt added: "The observation in our EMPhASIS trial that vidofludimus calcium shows a meaningful improvement in serum NfL even in a non-active MS patient population is very encouraging, as it suggests that the drug may even be active in the absence of inflammation, further supporting a potential role in neuroprotection."
He continued: "We believe that these effects may be related to vidofludimus calcium's potent Nurr1 activation."
Shares of Immunic rose on the news, adding 4% to US$1.43 in early trade on Wednesday.
Immunic is a biotechnology company developing a clinical pipeline of orally administered, small-molecule therapies for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
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