Following the news that MedDay Pharmaceutical’s MD1003 for the treatment of non-active progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) failed in a Phase III clinical trial;

Philippa Salter, Neurology and Ophthalmology Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“Despite MD1003 demonstrating efficacy at reversing disease progression in a small percentage of patients in an earlier clinical trial, this Phase III trial failure is not wholly unexpected. Some key opinion leaders (KOLs) interviewed by GlobalData in 2019, expressed concerns that MedDay would be unable to replicate the results from the earlier trial in a larger trial.

“The failure of MD1003 in a larger Phase III is hugely disappointing since the lack of treatments for progressive forms of MS is a big unmet need and there would have been significant opportunity in the MS market for MD1003 if it had been able to replicate the positive results. If positive results had been achieved KOLs said that they expected uptake to be fairly strong.

“The negative trial results mean that there will be increased opportunities for other companies who are also developing drugs for non-active progressive forms of MS. For example, Ab Science announced positive top-line results for masitinib in progressive forms of MS in February 2020. As MD1003 and masitinib were expected to launch at similar times, Ab Science should now expect to see stronger uptake due to the reduced competition.”