Immunology

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDRA) today announced positive top-line data from its randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled Phase 2 trial of IMO-8400 in 32 patients with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The primary objective of the trial was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of IMO-8400 over a 12-week treatment period, with a secondary objective to evaluate the clinical activity of IMO-8400. The trial met its primary objective as all treatments were well tolerated with no treatment related discontinuation, serious adverse events or dose reductions. IMO-8400 treatment met the secondary objective of demonstrating clinical activity in patients with psoriasis, as assessed by Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). IMO-8400, which is Idera's lead clinical candidate, is an antagonist of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 7, 8, and 9. Idera's strategy is to develop IMO-8400 for the treatment of genetically defined forms of B-cell lymphoma and orphan autoimmune diseases.

"Successful completion of this trial is an important additional milestone in our TLR antagonist program. We have studied psoriasis as the initial disease indication to demonstrate clinical proof of concept for our TLR antagonists in autoimmune diseases," said Sudhir Agrawal, D. Phil., Chief Executive Officer of Idera Pharmaceuticals. "With these data, we can now pursue our announced business strategy and advance our TLR antagonist drug candidates for the treatment of orphan diseases with high unmet medical need. Towards this goal, our clinical development strategy for IMO-8400 is focused on B-cell lymphomas harboring the MYD88 L265P mutation, and on orphan autoimmune disease indications. Over the remainder of 2014, we anticipate enrolling patients in IMO-8400 trials for Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and polymyositis and dermatomyositis."