Alseres Pharmaceuticals Enters Agreement to Amend Cethrin(R) License to Lower Milestone Payments and Roy...(ut also possibly in other indications li...),Health

Interim six-month results of 37 subjects in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial indicated that Cethrin was safe and well tolerated. The overall population of patients treated with Cethrin demonstrated an improvement in their impairment level on the American Spinal Injury Association scale that was approximately 400% greater than the conversion rate for patients in a comparable historical study who did not receive Cethrin. When analyzed as a subset, patients with cervical (neck) injuries who were treated with Cethrin showed improvement using the same impairment scale that was almost 700% greater than the full patient group treated with only the standard of care reported in the comparable study.

About Spinal Cord Injury, or SCI

There are approximately 11,000 new cases of SCI each year in the U.S. The average age of injury is 38. The estimated health care costs that are directly attributable to SCI vary greatly according to severity of the injury. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center estimates that the annual cost of care for spinal cord injury is up to $20 billion annually. The direct lifetime care costs for a patient with the most-severe injury and complete loss of function below the injury site is $2.9 million. Restoring even limited function to those who otherwise would have complete loss of function could reduce total medical costs/patient by $2.2 million over their lifetime and save the economy $9 billion annually while dramatically improving the quality of life for patients and their families.

About Cethrin(R) -- Phase II Drug for Acute Spinal Cord Injury

Cethrin is a recombinant protein drug intended to facilitate the re-growth of axons during the critical period immediately after a major injury to the spinal cord. Following a spinal cord injury about two-thirds of patients undergo decompression/stabilization surgery. Duri
'/>"/>