Boston, MA 04/28/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) reported stem cell study for bowel therapy to fail to show results in mid stage trail.
Athersys announced the results of one of its mid stage studies called MultiStem® cell treatment for ulcerative colitis. The trail was being conducted by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) on UC patients and the results demonstrated safe and tolerable affects for MultiStem after a treatment of 8 weeks. The results, however, did not show any remarkable benefits to chronic sufferers having moderate to extreme level UC. The patients under consideration were administered a single dose and have failed to respond positively for any other therapies earlier.
The trail was being conducted by Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) and Pfizer jointly at various sites including those in the U.S., Europe and Canada. The study included two parts involving a limited dose choosing phase and another efficacy phase. While the first part involved 18 patients, the second involved as many as 88 patients. Of these, 48 belonged to MultiStem treatment and 40 were subjected to the placebo therapy.
Insignificant Results
The results demonstrate data collected over 8 weeks for patients undergoing cell therapy or being administered placebo. Some initial efficiency endpoints for the trail are also included in the results announced. Additional results for a stretched period of 16 weeks in which a second dose was administered to some of the patients will be announced later by the drug maker.
The highlights of the results announced include safety and tolerability profile of the MultiStem therapy for 8 weeks after treatment. The results marked that the therapy does not show any significant improvement in the condition of chronic sufferers of UC as compared to placebo’s initial efficiency endpoints. It was noticed that after 4 weeks of treatment, some patients showed improved results than placebo, but the benefits were seen declining in some patients as they were significant at all measured time points.
