An experimental Novartis drug has succeeded against a tough-to-treat autoimmune condition, boosting the outlook for a multibillion-dollar acquisition the Swiss pharmaceutical company made last year.

诺华公司的一款实验性药物成功治愈了一种难以治疗的自身免疫疾病，提升了这家瑞士制药公司去年完成的一项数十亿美元收购的前景。

According to Novartis, the drug, called ianalumab,

根据诺华公司的说法，这种药物名为伊那鲁单抗，

met its main goal

达到了主要目标

in two Phase 3 studies in Sjögren’s syndrome, a chronic and progressive immune disease. Novartis didn’t provide specifics, but said Monday that treatment with ianalumab led to statistically significant improvements in disease activity compared to a placebo in each trial, as measured by a widely used index evaluating symptoms.

在两项针对干燥综合征（一种慢性进行性免疫疾病）的 III 期研究中，诺华没有提供具体细节，但周一表示，在每项试验中，使用 ianalumab 治疗相较于安慰剂，在评估症状的广泛使用指数上，均显示出统计学上的显著改善。

The drug was also “well tolerated” and demonstrated “a favorable safety profile,” the company said in a statement. .

该公司在一份声明中表示，该药物也“耐受性良好”，并展示了“良好的安全性”。

Novartis will share the findings at an upcoming medical meeting and submit them to global health regulators.

诺华将在即将召开的医学会议上分享这一发现，并将其提交给全球卫生监管机构。

The results position Novartis to extract some value out of its 2024 acquisition of German biotechnology company MorphoSys. Novartis

诺华的这一结果使其有望从2024年收购德国生物技术公司MorphoSys的交易中获取一定价值。

bought MorphoSys for $2.9 billion last February

去年二月以 29 亿美元收购了 MorphoSys

, chiefly for a myelofibrosis drug called pelabresib. Initially, Novartis intended to submit pelabresib to regulators last year, but the company later determined that it needed to obtain more data to support approval. CEO Vas Narasimhan

，主要用于一种名为佩拉布雷西的骨髓纤维化药物。最初，诺华打算去年将佩拉布雷西提交给监管机构，但公司后来确定需要获取更多数据以支持审批。首席执行官瓦斯·纳拉辛汉

has said

说过

doing so could take “at least until 2027,” and the company, as a result, has already

这样做可能需要“至少到2027年”，而且该公司因此已经

wrote down the value of the deal

写下了交易的价值

.

。

But Novartis also acquired other drug prospects in the MorphoSys deal. Among them was ianalumab, which Novartis had collaborated with MorphoSys on prior to the acquisition.

但是诺华在与MorphoSys的交易中还获得了其他药物前景。其中就包括诺华在收购前曾与MorphoSys合作过的伊那鲁单抗。

Ianalumab is an antibody the companies have been investigating against a variety of autoimmune conditions, such as Sjögren’s, lupus and immune thrombocytopenia, that are driven by the malfunctioning of B cells. The drug targets B cells in two ways, marking them for destruction by other immune cells and blocking a receptor called BAFF-R that’s crucial to their survival..

伊那鲁单抗是一种抗体，这些公司一直在研究其针对多种自身免疫疾病的效果，如干燥综合症、狼疮和免疫性血小板减少症，这些疾病都是由B细胞功能异常引起的。该药物以两种方式靶向B细胞，标记它们以供其他免疫细胞摧毁，并阻断对其生存至关重要的BAFF-R受体。

Novartis said during an

诺华表示，在一次

earnings call last month

上个月的财报电话会议

that ianalumab wasn’t effective enough against a different autoimmune condition, hidradenitis suppurativa, to warrant further research. But that result didn’t “really shift our conviction” on the drug’s potential elsewhere, Narasimhan told investors. The first of those readouts was in Sjögren’s, an immune disease characterized by a variety of symptoms including dry eyes and mouth, joint pain and fatigue. .

那一结果表明，ianalumab 对另一种自身免疫性疾病——化脓性汗腺炎的效果不够显著，不值得进一步研究。但 Narasimhan 告诉投资者，这一结果并没有“真正动摇我们对该药物在其他方面潜力的信心”。首个相关数据结果来自干燥综合症（Sjögren's），这是一种免疫疾病，症状包括眼睛和口腔干燥、关节疼痛以及疲劳等。

Multiple available treatments can manage the symptoms of Sjögren’s. But none can change its course, in part because several once-promising medicines have

多种可用的治疗方法可以控制Sjögren综合征的症状。但没有一种能够改变其病程，部分原因是几种一度看好的药物已经

failed in testing for one reason or another

由于某种原因测试失败

. Novartis’ results position the company to bring the first “targeted treatment” to market, if approved by regulators, the company said.

诺华表示，其研究结果使该公司有望将首款“靶向治疗”药物推向市场，前提是获得监管机构的批准。

'Sjögren’s disease is a serious, progressive, systemic autoimmune disease, often unrecognized or misdiagnosed with a significant detrimental impact to quality of life, with very limited treatment options and an established unmet need,” said Shreeram Aradhye, Novartis’ head of development and chief medical officer, in the company’s statement.

“干燥综合征是一种严重的、进行性的、全身性的自身免疫疾病，常常未被识别或误诊，对生活质量有显著的负面影响，治疗选择非常有限，存在大量未满足的需求，”诺华公司开发主管兼首席医疗官Shreeram Aradhye在公司声明中表示。

The studies “mark a significant milestone.”.

这些研究“标志着一个重要的里程碑”。