Singapore: New Zealand-based biopharmaceutical company Innate Immunotherapeutics is migrating to Australia in a move to capitalize on the interest that has been building around its lead drug MIS416.

The drug is primarily used for the treatment of Secondary Progressive Multiple Screlosis (SPMS). This disease develops in around 65 percent of people, who are diagnosed with the more common Relapsing Remitting MS (RRMS). It is characterised by a worsening of disability and increased difficulty of recovering from immune system relapses.

Results from the company's phase IIA MIS416 trial, conducted last year, showed 80 percent of patients with SPMS had at least a 30 percent (or greater) improvement in at least one measure of MS related symptoms.