Medivir studies potentially $6 billion annually worth drug

Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) held its fourth and final scheduled meeting and recommended continuation of the ongoing randomized, double-blind phase IIa study of Medivir’s MIV-711 in patients with moderate knee osteoarthritis.

It is expected that data from MIV-711-201 will be available in the third quarter of 2017 and that data from the ongoing extension study, MIV-711-202, will be available in the first half of 2018.

MIV-711 is being developed as a DMOAD, i.e. a drug to slow or reverse the progressive degeneration of joints affected by OA.

Since there are no DMOADs approved for use currently for osteoarthritis, this represent a very large market opportunity for the company.

Medivir has estimated that the US market alone is greater than USD 6 billion annually for a drug that impacts disease progression, even if its use was restricted just to patient populations with moderate osteoarthritis in weight-bearing joints.