Briakinumab is a human monoclonal antibody being developed by Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is an American-based global, diversified pharmaceuticals and health care products company. It has 90,000 employees and operates in over 130 countries. The company headquarters are in Abbott Park, North Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded by Chicago physician, Dr....

 for the treatment of psoriasis

Psoriasis

Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that appears on the skin. It occurs when the immune system mistakes the skin cells as a pathogen, and sends out faulty signals that speed up the growth cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis is not contagious. However, psoriasis has been linked to an increased risk of...

, rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...

, inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease

In medicine, inflammatory bowel disease is a group of inflammatory conditions of the colon and small intestine. The major types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.-Classification:...

, and multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

.

Like ustekinumab, the antibody targets the interleukin

Interleukin

Interleukins are a group of cytokines that were first seen to be expressed by white blood cells . The term interleukin derives from "as a means of communication", and "deriving from the fact that many of these proteins are produced by leukocytes and act on leukocytes"...

s 12

Interleukin 12

Interleukin 12 is an interleukin that is naturally produced by dendritic cells, macrophages and human B-lymphoblastoid cells in response to antigenic stimulation.-Gene and structure:...

 and 23

Interleukin 23

Interleukin-23 subunit alpha is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IL23A gene. IL-23 is produced by dendritic cells and macrophages...

.

Discovery

The candidate drug was discovered by Cambridge Antibody Technology

Cambridge Antibody Technology

Cambridge Antibody Technology was a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom...

 when they were collaborating with Abbott.

Trials

, Phase III clinical trial

Clinical trial

Clinical trials are a set of procedures in medical research and drug development that are conducted to allow safety and efficacy data to be collected for health interventions...

s for plaque psoriasis and a Phase II trial for multiple sclerosis have been completed, and a Phase II trial for Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease, also known as regional enteritis, is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, causing a wide variety of symptoms...

 is underway.

Briakinumab was compared to etanercept

Etanercept

Etanercept is a drug that treats autoimmune diseases by interfering with the tumor necrosis factor by acting as a TNF inhibitor. Pfizer describes in a SEC filing that the drug is used to treat rheumatoid, juvenile rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, plaque psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis...

 and placebo

Placebo

A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient...

 in several double-blind

Double-blind

A blind or blinded experiment is a scientific experiment where some of the people involved are prevented from knowing certain information that might lead to conscious or subconscious bias on their part, invalidating the results....

 trials. The Psoriasis Area Severity Index

Psoriasis Area Severity Index

Psoriasis Area and Severity Index is the most widely used tool for the measurement of severity of psoriasis. PASI combines the assessment of the severity of lesions and the area affected into a single score in the range 0 to 72 .- Calculation :The body is divided into four sections Psoriasis Area...

 (PASI) was reduced significantly better than under the comparator treatments. 81–82% of patients under briakinumab, 40–56% under etanercept, and 7% under placebo reached PASI reduction of at least 75%. No head-to-head studies against ustekinumab, the other IL-12/23 inhibitor, are available.

Royalties

This is the second candidate from a deal with Cambridge Antibody Technology that Abbott have taken to late-stage clinical trials. As a result of the protracted royalty dispute over Humira Abbott agreed to pay CAT a reduced royalty of 4.75% on any future sales of ABT-874, from which CAT will pay a portion to the MRC and other licensors (according to CAT's 1997 agreement with the MRC)