BiolineRX Ltd. (TASE:BLRX) will begin a Phase I (safety and efficacy) clinical trial of its BL-1021 drug for the treatment of neuropathic pain - chronic pain as a result from an injury to the nervous system. The trial will begin in June in Israel after obtaining approval from the Ministry of Health.
The trial will include 56 healthy patients in seven groups, each of which will receive either the drug or a placebo. Dosages will gradually be increased during the course of the trial to measure side effects, and pharmacokinetic data (the rate at which the drug action begins, the duration of the effect, chemical changes of the drug in body, secretions, etc.) will be collected.
BL-1021 is BiolineRX's fourth drug to enter clinical trials, after BL-1040, BL-1020, and BL-5010. The company has nine additional drugs in development or in preclinical trials for the treatment of cancer, diseases of the central nervous system, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, and cardiovascular diseases.
According to Datamonitor, the neuropathic pain market totals $2.4 billion in seven large markets, and is expected to grow to $4.1 billion in 2018.
BL-1021 was invented by Prof. Abraham Nudelman, Prof. Abraham Weizmann, Dr. Irit Gilad and Dr. Ada Rephaeli. BiolineRX is developing the drug under a worldwide exclusive license from Bar Ilan R&D Company Ltd. and Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd..
BiolineRX's share price fell 1.4% in morning trading to NIS 1.84, giving a market cap of NIS 230 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 22, 2011
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