What is "mavrilimumab"

n. A human monoclonal antibody for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Mavrilimumab is a human monoclonal antibody designed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. It is an inhibitor of human granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (GM-CSF-R).

Mavrilimumab was discovered as CAM-3001 by Cambridge Antibody Technology and is being developed by MedImmune, Inc.

It has so far shown positive results in phase 1 and phase 2a clinical trials. A phase 2a trial which studied mavrilimumab doses of up to 100 mg, reported that 55.7% of subjects met the primary endpoint of "a ≥1.2 decrease from baseline in Disease Activity Score (DAS28-CRP) at week 12" (vs. only 34.7% of placebo subjects). Two further clinical studies are reported to be underway in rheumatoid arthritis patients to investigate these effects further.

Preliminary results, from a phase IIb study investigating doses of 30, 100 and 150 mg mavrilimumab over 24 weeks, were presented at a rheumatology conference in Rome, in August 2015. At week 24, 40.15% of patients in the top dose group achieved an ACR50 response compared to 3.7% in the placebo group. Rates of remission and low disease activity were reported to be significantly higher in the 150-mg group. Patients who completed this and a second US clinical study were enrolled into an open-label extension study to evaluate the longer term efficacy and safety of mavrilumumab for up to 74 weeks of treatment, presented at a rheumatology conference in San Francisco in November 2015. The authors concluded that 150 mg mavrilimumab was optimal for patients who had prior inadequate response to non-biological DMARDs compared to a dose of 100 mg every other week which had produced positive results in patients still receiving methotrexate.