In the recently concluded (November 10-15) 70th annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology and the 41st annual meeting of the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals in Washington, DC, Immunomedics, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMMU) has reported study data which showed that epratuzumab and rituximab have distinct mechanisms of action:
- Epratuzumab (product candidate for lupus therapy) acts as an immunomodulatory agent
- Rituximab (monoclonal antibody for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) is an acutely cytotoxic therapeutic antibody with different modes of action
According to Cynthia L. Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Immunomedics, Inc.:
"Epratuzumab's ability to modulate B-cell activities complements rituximab's cell killing property. These two antibodies may be complementary when used in combination for the therapy of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) or other B-cell diseases.
In particular, the immunomodulatory effect of epratuzumab could be important in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. In autoimmune disease, a patient's immune system is already compromised, so physicians have indicated to us that they prefer not to have their patient's peripheral B-cells completely depleted.”
Immunomedics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing monoclonal antibodies that is based in New Jersey.
Find more details from the press release (a pdf file).
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