Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ABEO), a fully-integrated leader in gene and cell therapy, today announced that investigators at Stanford University Medical Center have treated the first patient in the pivotal phase III VIITAL study evaluating EB-101, the Companys gene-corrected cell therapy for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB).
Treating the first patient in our pivotal Phase III VIITAL study is an important achievement for the EB-101 program, now the most advanced gene therapy program in RDEB, said Joo Siffert, M.D., Chief Executive Officer. This achievement confirms that Abeona can deliver EB-101 in a study setting that closely parallels its potential real-world application. We remain confident that VIITALTM will replicate results from the Phase I/II trial demonstrating that EB-101 treatment resulted in sustained and durable wound healing with a favorable safety profile.
The VIITAL Phase III study is a multi-center, randomized clinical trial assessing EB-101 in up to 15 RDEB patients, with approximately 30 large, chronic wound sites treated in total. The primary outcome measure is wound healing, comparing treated with untreated wound sites on the same patient. Secondary endpoints include the assessments of pain, as well as other patient reported outcomes. Investigators at Stanford University Medical Center are currently enrolling eligible patients into the VIITALTM study and preparations for an additional clinical site initiation are ongoing. Additional information about the trial is available at abeonatherapeutics.com/clinical-trials/rdeb.
Abeona is producing EB-101 for the VIITALTM study at the Elisa Linton Center for Rare Disease Therapies, its fully-functional gene and cell therapy manufacturing facility centrally-located in Cleveland, OH. The 26,000 ft2 center is housing large-scale cGMP capacity for AAV gene therapy and EB-101 cell therapy manufacturing, and state-of-the-art laboratories to support CMC development for process and analytics, all of which is validated and governed by comprehensive quality systems and overseen by experienced staff. 2020 Global Data Point.
