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Apitope Upbeat After Merck Returns Multiple Sclerosis Candidate

 
• By Sukaina Virji

With cladribine battling it out again with regulatory authorities for approval in multiple sclerosis, Merck decides to hand back rights to Apitope's Phase II MS drug candidate.

Merck KGAA of Germany has returned full rights to a multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment candidate that it licensed from Apitope in 2009. The pharma firm recently managed to persuade regulatory authorities to accept its MS drug cladribine for review. (Also see "ECTRIMS 2016: What Future For Merck KGaA’s Cladribine?" - Scrip, 16 September, 2016.)

Enrolment in a Phase IIa trial of Apitope's ATX-MS-1467 in relapsing MS was completed by Merck in mid-2015, and the...

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