IDEA AG's Ph III osteoarthritis trial completed successfully

New York, USA-based Celtic Pharmaceutical Holding, a private equity firm focused on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, says that its investee company, IDEA AG has successfully completed a Phase III trial of the osteoarthritis drug IDEA-033.

The European study, which enrolled 866 patients suffering osteoarthritis of the knee, showed that, at the 50mg and 100mg dosages, the product was significantly superior to placebo in terms of pain reduction. In addition, statistically-significant benefits were observed with 24 hours of administration.

IDEA said that it had re-acquired US and Canadian rights to the drug from Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeill Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals. John Mayo, co-managing general partner of Celtic Pharma, said that the data clearly establishes the effectiveness of IDEA's technology, as well as the Transfersome platform on which it was developed.