Tiziana Life Sciences Announces Study Results from Intranasal Anti-CD3 Foralumab in Multiple Sclerosis Patients with PIRA Highlighted in Neurology Today

- Intranasal foralumab attenuated microglial activation in patients with non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and progression independent of relapse (PIRA) -
- Data presented in a platform session at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Denver, Colorado -

NEW YORK, April 19, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tiziana Life Sciences, Ltd. (Nasdaq: TLSA) (“Tiziana” or the “Company”), a biotechnology company developing breakthrough immunomodulation therapies via novel routes of drug delivery, today announced that a study related to its lead candidate, foralumab, was highlighted in Neurology Today, the official news source of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), in an article titled, “Anti-CD3 Antibody Foralumab Shows Promise in PIRA, Measured by Novel PET Ligand.”

The study is authored by Tarun Singhal, M.B.B.S., M.D., Director, PET Imaging Program in Neurologic Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of Mass General Brigham Healthcare System, and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and shows that foralumab, a fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal-antibody, attenuates microglial activation in non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (na-SPMS) patients with progression independent of relapse (PIRA). A systemic review published in JAMA Neurology^[1] in October 2023 found that PIRA is the most frequent manifestation of disability accumulation across the full spectrum of traditional multiple sclerosis (MS) phenotypes.

“PIRA is a condition that poses a major unmet need for patients with multiple sclerosis,” stated Dr. Singhal. “Currently, there are no disease-modifying therapies approved for this category of progressive MS patients. This study provides initial evidence that this fully human anti-CD3 has the potential to benefit this type of MS, which is the most difficult form to treat.”  

“We do not have any recognized approaches to try to alter microglial activation at present, which everyone agrees at this point in time is relevant throughout the life of a patient with MS. Even ocrelizumab [Ocrevus] for primary progressive MS has modest impact, so the potential here is great, and the proof of principle that you can alter the microglia is a real punchline,” said John Corboy, MD, FAAN, an endowed chair in neurology and director of the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.