MPM.L Regulatory News (MPM)

16 Jun 2008 07:30



MINSTER PHARMACEUTICALS PLC

("Minster" or "the Company")

Phase IIb TEMPUS study fully enrolled

Minster Pharmaceuticals plc (AIM: MPM), the drug development company specialising in neurological and psychiatric disorders, is pleased to announce that its Phase IIb TEMPUS study of tonabersat in the preventive treatment of migraine is now fully enrolled. 

The results of this 500 patient study, which is taking place at specialist and general centres in the US and Canada, are expected in the first quarter of 2009. The primary endpoint of the study, which is placebo controlled, is the reduction in the number of migraine attacks that patients suffer during the last eight weeks of a 20 week treatment period.

The TEMPUS study has attracted the attention of many of the key opinion leaders in migraine in North America, where the requirement for an effective, preventive treatment for migraine is increasingly recognised. The study's principal investigator is Professor Richard Lipton, Professor of Neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Tonabersat, Minster's lead compound, was described in September last year as "the most promising late-stage migraine specific preventive therapy" in an independent report by Datamonitor. 

The latest developments in the understanding of the mode of action of tonabersat will be presented next week to the plenary session of the American Headache Society's 50th Annual Scientific Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.

Paul Sharpe, Minster Pharmaceuticals' Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted to have reached full enrolment in our TEMPUS study of tonabersat in the prevention of migraine. We now look forward to the completion of the study and to the release of the study results, which we expect in the first quarter of 2009. 

"We believe that around 30 per cent of migraineurs would benefit from an effective and well tolerated treatment for the prevention of migraine, representing a very substantial commercial market."

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About Minster Pharmaceuticals plc

Minster Pharmaceuticals is a drug development company focussed on neurological and psychiatric disorders. Its principal pipeline assets are tonabersat, under development in the preventive treatment of migraine, and sabcomeline in schizophrenia. Worldwide rights to both compounds were acquired from GlaxoSmithKline and the compounds benefit from comprehensive safety tolerance data as a result of investment by GSK.

Tonabersat is the leading compound in an exciting new class of selective drugs designated as neuronal gap junction blockers and offers the potential to prevent the onset of migraine as a preferred alternative to acute treatment. Sabcomeline, a muscarinic partial agonist, has potential in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia.

Minster's near-term focus is on the development and commercialisation of its current pipeline. Its medium term strategy is to leverage the anticipated cashflows from the current pipeline by in-licensing further compounds with the ultimate objective of creating a substantial and highly efficient drug development enterprise focussed on the central nervous system.

Minster joined the AIM market in February 2005 and trades under the symbol MPM. For further information please visit www.minsterpharma.com .