Celgene reports new positive trial data for psoriatic arthritis drug

Celgene has announced new clinical data that further underlines the benefits its drug apremilast can offer in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis.

In the phase III Palace-4 trial, the therapy met its primary endpoint of delivering a 20 percent improvement compared to baseline after 16 weeks, while also achieving its secondary goal of enhancing signs and symptoms, physical function and patient-reported outcomes.

Palace-4 was the first company-sponsored trial studying patients who had not previously received an oral disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, with more than 500 subjects being enrolled for the study.

This latest data will help support planned regulatory submissions for apremilast in the US and Europe later this year.

Randall Stevens, vice-president of clinical research and development for inflammation and immunology at Celgene, said: "Palace-4 is now the fourth major randomised apremilast phase III study to provide promising results for patients with psoriatic arthritis."

Last week, Celgene's oncology agent Revlimid received a recommendation from Europe's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use for the treatment of a rare form of blood cancer.