Laquinimod, a once-daily oral drug in development for the treatment of relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Laquinimod is a novel, small, orally administered medication that has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the CNS. In preclinical testing, laquinimod inhibited the development of both acute and chronic paralysis in the multiple sclerosis model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Furthermore, laquinimod reduced inflammation, demyelination and axonal damage in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice treated at disease induction or at clinical disease onset. Recent findings from the clinical trials indicate that laquinimod has significant effects in reducing relapse rate and has more pronounced effects in reducing sustained disability progression as well as brain atrophy, with a good safety profile. In conclusion, preclinical studies show that laquinimod’s unique mechanisms of action, including its immunomodulatory and CNS-protective effects, translate into clinical benefits in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis patients.

Keywords::

• disability
• immunomodulation
• neuroprotection
• oral treatment
• RRMS

Financial & competing interests disclosure

W Brück receives research support from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, BiogenIdec, Novartis and Bayer Schering Pharma, and is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, BiogenIdec and sanofi-aventis. W Brück serves on speaker’s bureaus for Bayer Schering Pharma, BiogenIdec, Merck Serono, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, sanofi-aventis and Novartis. S Zamvil receives research grant support from the NIH (RO1 AI073737 and RO1 NS063008), the NMSS (RG 4124), The Guthy Jackson Charitable Foundation, The Maisin Foundation, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Five Prime, Inc. and Boehringer-Ingelheim, Inc. S Zamvil has served as a consultant and received honoraria from Biogen-Idec, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc., EMD-Serono, Genzyme and Novartis. S Zamvil has also served on multiple Data Safety Monitoring Boards (Eli Lilly, BioMS and Teva). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.