Arthritis Clinical Trials

This is a multi-national, multi-centre, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, 4-arm parallel group trial, comparing three different dose levels (80 mg, 160 mg and 320 mg) of veltuzumab to placebo, administered weekly (days 1, 8, 15 and 22) by subcutaneous (sc) injection to subjects with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (cumulative veltuzumab doses 320 mg, 640 mg, and 1280 mg, respectively). All subjects will be on continued stable co-medication with methotrexate (MTX).

The trial comprises a screening phase (4 to 12 weeks prior to first administration of veltuzumab), a 4-week treatment phase (weeks 1 to 4), a core phase from week 4 to week 24, and a follow-up phase from week 24 to week 48. The primary end-point, the American College of Rheumatology 20 (ACR 20) response rate, will be evaluated at week 24.

The objectives of this trial are

• To investigate the efficacy, safety and tolerability at week 24 of three different sc dose levels of the humanized anti-CD20 antibody veltuzumab as an add-on treatment to MTX compared to MTX alone in subjects with moderate to severe RA
• To evaluate the durability of the clinical response and safety of veltuzumab over 48 weeks
• To identify the dosage(s) of veltuzumab with the most favourable benefit-risk profile to be further evaluated in the subsequent phase II/III clinical program in subjects with moderate to severe RA.