Opexa shares rocket up on promising MS trial data

Shares of Opexa Therapeutics more than doubled this morning after the developer announced that 83 percent of all patients taking its therapeutic vaccine for multiple sclerosis had remained relapse-free for a year. The mid-stage trial focused on 150 patients with relapsing-remitting MS, an early stage at which the disease flares up and then disappears for months or even years.

The annual relapse rate for the Tovaxin group was 20 percent, researchers say, a 42 percent reduction when compared to placebo. About three of every four patients in the Tovaxin group stabilized or demonstrated an improvement in their disability.

 "Clinical benefits include not only reduction in relapses, but a surprising reversal of disability in over 16 percent of Tovaxin-treated patients," said Dawn McGuire, MD, a board certified neurologist and a member of Opexa's Clinical Advisory Board. "Along with MRI data suggesting a reduction in neuronal cell loss, these results raise the possibility that Tovaxin-treatment may have neuroprotective as well as disease-modifying effects. Tovaxin's favorable safety profile and these early efficacy signals strongly support moving forward with a confirmatory Phase IIb trial."

- check out the Opexa release
- read the Reuters story

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