Incyte says that a mid-stage study of its oral therapy for rheumatoid arthritis achieved positive top-line results at the midway point of an ongoing six-month study, triggering a $30 million milestone payment from Eli Lilly. The developer also revealed in its current quarterly statement that it will pocket a $3 million milestone from Pfizer for its CCR2 antagonist program.
"We have achieved positive three-month Phase II results for INCB28050, our oral JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor, for rheumatoid arthritis," said CEO Paul A. Friedman. "The efficacy results from this study are very encouraging and compare favorably not only with marketed RA treatments, in particular biologics, but also with oral molecules in development. We look forward to presenting the full six-month results from this trial at the American College of Rheumatology meeting in November."
After three months of therapy, all three doses of the drug appear to be equally effective with ACR scores improving rapidly for the 4 mg, 7 mg and 10 mg dose groups. On the ACR20, 50 and 70 measures, patients demonstrated response rates of 60 percent, 36 percent and 16 percent, while a placebo triggered response rates of 32 percent, 13 percent and 3 percent. INCB28050 was generally well tolerated in this study with nearly all adverse events mild to moderate in intensity.
- here's Incyte's press release
- and here's the Reuters story