PDL and ECCO to raise awareness of UC trials

California, USA-based drugmaker PDL BioPharma says it has entered into a partnership with the European Crohn's and Colitis Organization, which will seek to increase awareness of the developmental ulcerative colitis treatment Nuvion (visilizumab). The agent is a therapeutic monoclonal antibody under development by PDL as a treatment for T cell mediated inflammatory disorders.

The collaboration, which the firm said would further the ECCO's mission to optimize care for patients with inflammatory bowel disease, is designed to publicize the RESTORE trial program, which is currently enrolling patients, and is an assessment of the drug as therapy for intravenous steroid refractory UC. The study will examine the product's effect on patient symptoms, as well as its ability to delay the need for surgery.

Miquel Gassull, president of the ECCO, said: "ulcerative colitis may be a devastating disease that affects people who, in the most severe cases, are often faced with life-altering treatments such as colon removal surgery as their only hope of symptom relief." He went on to say that the partnership was the first of its kind that the Organization had entered into to actively promote an ongoing trial.