- Meaningful Fatigue score reduction seen in study is a critically important quality of life (QoL) measure for Multiple Sclerosis patients.
- All patients experienced stabilization of Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores.
- TSPO-PET imaging showed significant reductions in microglial activation at six months (p<0.05).
NEW YORK, NY — Tiziana Life Sciences, Ltd. (Nasdaq: TLSA) (“Tiziana” or the “Company”), a biotechnology company developing breakthrough immunomodulation therapies with its lead development candidate, intranasal foralumab, a fully human, anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, today announced promising results from an open-label clinical study evaluating nasal foralumab, the world’s only fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody administered intranasally, for the treatment of non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (na-SPMS). This comprehensive study demonstrated that nasal foralumab was safe, induced potent regulatory immune responses, reduced microglial activation, and stabilized clinical progression in patients suffering from progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA)—a major unmet need in the treatment of MS, and a key disease endpoint for intranasal foralumab development. The article is titled “Nasal foralumab treatment of PIRA induces regulatory immunity, dampens microglial activation and stabilizes clinical progression in non-active secondary progressive MS.” This study is the first to integrate, F18TSPO PET, Proteomics, and Clinical assessments in na-SPMS. These findings in MFIS score reduction are a critically important Quality of Life (QoL) measure for patients with MS.
Study Highlights:
- Ten patients with na-SPMS, who continued to progress despite B-cell therapy, were treated with nasal foralumab for a minimum of six months.
- No serious or severe treatment-related adverse events were reported.
- All patients experienced stabilization of their Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores; three of four patients that were treated continuously for 12 months showed improvement.
- Fatigue, a major symptom burden in MS, improved in six out of ten patients, as measured by the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS).
- Total MFIS scores correlated strongly with mGALP scores in the hippocampus (r=0.89, p=0.007) at baseline.
- No new T2 lesions were observed on MRI.
- TSPO-PET imaging showed significant reductions in microglial activation at six months (p<0.05).
- Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed early and sustained changes in peripheral immune cells, including increased regulatory T cells (Tregs) and expression of TGFβ across multiple cell types.
“Our findings mark a significant advancement for patients living with non-active Secondary Progressive MS, who currently have very limited treatment options,” said Tanuja Chitnis, M.D., Principal Investigator and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and senior neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of Mass General Brigham Healthcare System. “Nasal administration of foralumab represents a novel, non-invasive approach that not only induces regulatory immunity but also reduces harmful CNS inflammation.”
PIRA and progressive forms of MS are characterized by central nervous system-centric inflammation driven by microglial activation, processes not adequately addressed by existing therapies. Traditional MS treatments targeting B-cells and cell trafficking have limited efficacy in managing progression behind the blood-brain barrier.
Nasal foralumab leverages the mucosal immune system to induce regulatory immune responses, offering a novel mechanism to suppress CNS inflammation without the systemic immunosuppression seen with intravenous therapies. Previous studies showed that nasal anti-CD3 could treat progressive MS in animal models by expanding LAP+ and IL-10+ Tregs, providing the scientific rationale for this human study.
In parallel with these encouraging results, Tiziana Life Sciences has initiated a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial to further assess the efficacy and safety of nasal foralumab in a larger cohort of patients with na-SPMS. This trial is expected to reach top line data read out at the end of 2025.
“We are incredibly excited by these results, which validate the potential of nasal foralumab to fundamentally shift the treatment paradigm for progressive MS,” said Ivor Elrifi, Chief Executive Officer of Tiziana Life Sciences. “We are also committed to advancing this promising therapy into other larger clinical studies, such as Alzheimer’s Disease and ALS as quickly as possible.”
This article has been submitted for peer review, and the full preprint is available here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.30.25326602v1
About Foralumab
Foralumab, a fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, is a biological drug candidate that has been shown to stimulate T regulatory cells when dosed intranasally. At present, 10 patients with Non-Active Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (na-SPMS) have been dosed in an open-label intermediate sized Expanded Access (EA) Program (NCT06802328) with either an improvement or stability of disease seen within 6 months in all patients. In addition, intranasal foralumab is currently being studied in a Phase 2a, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter, dose-ranging trial in patients with non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (NCT06292923).
Foralumab is the only fully human anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) currently in clinical development. The non-active SPMS intranasal foralumab Phase 2 trial (NCT06292923) began screening patients in November of 2023. Immunomodulation by intranasal foralumab represents a novel avenue for the treatment of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative human diseases.[1],[2]
About Tiziana Life Sciences
Tiziana Life Sciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing breakthrough therapies using transformational drug delivery technologies to enable alternative routes of immunotherapy. Tiziana’s innovative nasal approach has the potential to provide an improvement in efficacy as well as safety and tolerability compared to intravenous (IV) delivery. Tiziana’s lead candidate, intranasal foralumab, which is the only fully human anti-CD3 mAb currently in clinical development, has demonstrated a favorable safety profile and clinical response in patients in studies to date. Tiziana’s technology for alternative routes of immunotherapy has been patented with several applications pending and is expected to allow for broad pipeline applications.
For more information about Tiziana Life Sciences and its innovative pipeline of therapies, please visit www.tizianalifesciences.com.
Tiziana Life Sciences Ltd Contact
Paul Spencer, Business Development, and Investor Relations
+44 (0) 207 495 2379
email: [email protected]
References
[1] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2220272120
[2] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2309221120