Coronado Biosciences Announces Initiation of Investigator-Initiated Study Evaluating TSO in Psoriasis

BURLINGTON, Mass., Feb. 25, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coronado Biosciences, Inc. (CNDO), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel immunotherapy biologic agents for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer, announced today the initiation of an Investigator-Initiated Study (IIS) evaluating TSO (Trichuris suis ova or CNDO-201) for the treatment of psoriasis. The first site initiated in the multicenter study is the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). Dr. Mark G. Lebwohl, Sol and Clara Kest Professor and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology, is the Principal Investigator of the trial at ISMMS.

"We are excited to be working with Mount Sinai and Professor Lebwohl, a renowned thought leader, in our pursuit of potential treatments of diseases for our lead program, TSO, where the hygiene hypothesis and immunology are important for their basic epidemiology," said Dr. Karin Hehenberger, Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer of Coronado. "Psoriasis is one of these diseases with critical medical need and we believe the objective nature of the assessment of progression or worsening of this disease lends itself well to this type of pilot trial."

This trial is an open-label study designed to enroll 20 patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. ISMMS is the first of three sites which the company anticipates being involved in this study. Participants will receive eight doses of either TSO 2500 or TSO 7500 orally every other week over a 16-week treatment period. The trial will evaluate the effect of TSO on clinical response of psoriasis. The primary endpoint will be the average improvement in Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) from baseline at week 16. The goal of the pilot study is to test for early safety and efficacy of TSO at two different doses.

About Psoriasis

Psoriasis (psoriasis vulgaris) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by red, scaly, raised plaques. The disease process is driven by T-cell infiltration and associated elevation in cytokine levels leading to increased cell division and aberrant differentiation, resulting in the psoriatic phenotype. Plaque psoriasis has a worldwide prevalence of 2-3%, and is a chronic, recurrent skin condition with varying degrees of severity. It is the most common autoimmune disease in the U.S. As many as 7.5 million Americans have psoriasis.

Psoriasis can profoundly impact a patient's quality of life, causing disability of physical and mental functioning comparable to other major medical diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, myocardial infarction, depression, and arthritis. It is also associated with serious co-morbidities, including psoriatic arthritis, depression, malignancy, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. While many patients with mild disease are able to control psoriasis symptoms with topical medications alone, patients with moderate to severe disease usually require treatment with systemic agents to achieve good clearance. These systemic agents are usually well tolerated, but can have potentially significant side effects including organ toxicity, infection, malignancy, and teratogenicity that limit their usefulness in the long-term management of psoriasis.

Biologic agents have been a significant advancement in the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis, but can have limited and/or diminishing efficacy and require administration by subcutaneous injection or intravenous infusion. These agents are still relatively new and long term safety issues (e.g., infection including tuberculosis, malignancies including lymphoma, and demyelinating neurologic events) are not fully understood. Despite all the available treatments, there is still a need for therapies that will provide high continuous efficacy, improved safety, and a more convenient route of administration to maximize compliance and satisfaction with treatment, leading to decreased burden of the disease.

About TSO

TSO (Trichuris suis ova or CNDO-201), the microscopic eggs of the porcine whipworm, is a novel, orally administered, natural immunomodulator that regulates T-Cells and pro-inflammatory cytokines. The use of TSO as a therapeutic is based on the "hygiene hypothesis" and numerous animal and human studies. TSO was chosen as the biological agent of choice because it is not a human pathogen, and is spontaneously eliminated from the body within several weeks after dosing.

In February 2012, the company reported positive results from a phase 1 clinical study of TSO in patients with Crohn's disease, where TSO was shown to be safe and well tolerated. The phase 1 trial was a multi-center, sequential dose, dose-escalation, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 36 patients with Crohn's disease. In August 2012, Coronado initiated TRUST- I (TRichUris Suis ova Trial), a phase 2 clinical trial of TSO in patients with Crohn's disease in the United States, which is expected to be completed in the second half of 2013.

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Coronado Biosciences Announces Initiation of Investigator-Initiated Study Evaluating TSO in Psoriasis