Fresh off two clinical successes--including impressive Phase III results for cystic fibrosis drug VX-770 and more good telaprevir data--Vertex said its epilepsy drug met key endpoints in a Phase II study.
For six weeks, VX-765 was tested in 60 people with treatment-resistant epilepsy. Safety and tolerability were the main endpoints. The company determined the safety profile for VX-765 was similar to that for placebo, with dizziness being the most severe side effect. Secondary endpoints were set to measure how effective the drug was at reducing the frequency of seizures. Although a statistically significant drop in seizures wasn't observed, Vertex said fewer episodes occurred in the last two weeks of the trial, as compared with the first two weeks. CSO Peter Mueller said those results support a larger long-term study that the company expects to begin later this year.
"The use of anti-inflammatory medicines is a completely new way to approach the treatment of epilepsy, and this study was an important first step toward understanding whether VX-765 could help people with this disease," Mueller added.
- check out Vertex's release
- here's the report