To: A.J. Mullen who wrote (5314 ) 1/3/2002 8:09:03 PM From: tom pope Read Replies (1) | Respond to ABGX is being slammed after hours (last trade 25.62) on the basis of this:The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of patients achieving an ACR 20 response at Week 12. An ACR 20 response requires a greater than or equal to 20% reduction in swollen joint count, a greater than or equal to 20% reduction in tender joint count and a greater than or equal to 20% improvement in three out of five of the following: patient's assessment of pain, patient's assessment of disease activity, investigator's assessment of disease activity, acute phase reactant (CRP) and patient's assessment of functional status (HAQ score). In an analysis of all randomized patients, 31% of placebo-treated patients achieved an ACR 20 response at Week 12 compared with 34% of ABX-IL8-treated patients. In a subset analysis of patients with more active disease (the 70% of patients in the study who had greater than or equal to 12 swollen joints at baseline) 41% of ABX-IL8-treated-patients achieved an ACR 20 response compared with 27% of placebo-treated patients. Additionally, a correlation between serum levels of ABX-IL8 and clinical response was observed. Forty-seven percent of patients with ABX-IL8 serum concentrations above the median level achieved an ACR 20 response at Week 12, compared to a 33 percent ACR 20 response rate in patients below the median. Despite this evidence of anti-inflammatory activity, the magnitude of the benefit did not meet the company's criteria for moving forward to a Phase 2b study. biz.yahoo.com .
