BioLineRx Announces Additional Phase 2a Results Of BL-7040 - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - BioLineRx (BLRX) announced additional Phase 2a results showing significant improvement of disease measurements in biopsies taken from inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, patients treated with BL-7040, an orally available drug for treating IBD. The company said the histological and biochemical analyses of inflammation indicators reinforce the initial positive results of the study, reported in April 2013, which showed that BL-7040 is safe and effective in treating ulcerative colitis, a form of IBD.

The histological results showed that neutrophil levels were significantly reduced in patients treated with BL-7040. The level of pro-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin 6 (IL-6), were also significantly reduced in patients treated with BL-7040, and most patients with reduced cytokine levels showed clinical improvement.

"The clinical improvement in the trial was achieved after a relatively short treatment period, which leads us to believe that BL-7040 would have an even stronger beneficial effect after longer treatment duration," said Kinneret Savitsky, CEO of BioLineRx.