EMD Serono submits NDA for Cladribine Tablets in the U.S.

EMD Serono, Inc. an affiliate of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today the submission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Cladribine Tablets, EMD Serono's proprietary investigational oral formulation of cladribine, as a therapy for reducing relapses in people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Cladribine Tablets has the potential to be the first orally administered disease-modifying therapy available for people living with relapsing MS, as all disease-modifying therapies currently approved for the treatment of MS are parenteral therapies.

"As a leader in the area of neurodegenerative diseases, we continue to focus on making a positive difference in the lives of people living with MS, and their families," said Fereydoun Firouz, President and CEO of EMD Serono, Inc. "If approved, short-course therapy with Cladribine Tablets could transform the way people approach their treatment options, and meet an unmet need as an oral, disease modifying drug available for MS. We look forward to working with the FDA during the course of the regulatory process."

The NDA submission is supported by results from the CLARITY(a) study, a two-year, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III trial of Cladribine Tablets in people with relapsing-remitting MS. The NDA also shows that all primary and 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 recent international scientific meetings.