EMD Serono announces results from CLARITY Phase III trial in MS patients

EMD Serono, an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today the online publication of the results from the CLARITY Phase III trial using Cladribine Tablets (EMD Serono's proprietary investigational oral formulation of cladribine) in The New England Journal of Medicine. The CLARITY study was a two-year (96-week), randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III trial of Cladribine Tablets in 1,326 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS).

"The CLARITY trial represents an important step forward in multiple sclerosis research, and we are pleased that the results have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine," says Dr. Gavin Giovannoni, principal investigator of the CLARITY study and lead author on the publication, from Queen Mary University London, Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, United Kingdom.

The authors report in the publication that the primary endpoint and key secondary endpoints of the CLARITY trial were met. The CLARITY data were presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in April 2009 and at other international scientific meetings.