Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced it will begin Phase 3 clinical development for a new drug treatment for gout, dubbed Arcalyst, early next year after promising results from a Phase 2 study.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which is based in Tarrytown but has its manufacturing facility in East Greenbush, said Arcalyst showed statistically significant reduction of gout flareups compared with a placebo drug.
In the first 12 weeks of an 83-patient, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 45.2 percent of patients treated with the placebo experienced a gout flare-up and of those, 47.4 percent had more than one flareup. Among patients treated with Arcalyst, only 14.6 percent experienced a gout flare-up and none had more than one. No serious drug-related adverse events were reported in patients receiving Arcalyst treatment, according to Regeneron officials.
After news of the successful Phase 2 study Regeneron’s stock jumped about 6 percent Wednesday to close at $21.80 after heavy trading.
