A new investigational therapy from Celldex Therapeutics Inc. in Hampton, New Jersey provides the promise of substantial relief from “hives”, a painful condition affecting tens of millions of people worldwide.

Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (“CSU”) (the technical term for hives) is a condition that might be easier to understand this way.  Imagine waking up one day with itchy welts on your skin, similar to those you'd get from an allergic reaction to, say, a bee sting. For people with CSU, these welts, or hives, can appear without any clear trigger and the itchiness and discomfort can be a daily battle.

These hives can come and go, sometimes showing up for a few hours or even a day, then disappearing, only to reappear elsewhere on the body.   It's chronic because it happens regularly over weeks and months and it's spontaneous because there's no obvious cause, like an allergy.

Celldex has just announced the results of a Phase 2 clinical trial of its investigational biologic drug for treatment of CSU.  The study showed a statistically significant reduction in a measure of the severity of the disease.  For details on the trial, see the Celldex press release here.

The score to which the Celldex study refers is a way to measure the number and severity of hives and how much itchiness a person feels over a week. It helps doctors understand how severe the CSU is and how well the treatment is working. The study is significant because it offers hope for a new treatment that could help control this painful condition.

While the results are preliminary and the Celldex press release contains the usual cautionary language about forward-looking statements, the results do speak for themselves in promising relief for people suffering from CSU.

Celldex is a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the science at the intersection of mast cell biology and the development of therapeutics for patients. Its pipeline includes antibody-based therapeutics for engaging the human immune system and/or directly affecting critical pathways to address severe inflammatory, allergic, autoimmune and other devastating diseases.  For more on Celldex Therapeutics Inc., click here.

By the way, one of the reasons why I established my law firm was to help entrepreneurs and companies with great ideas get them to the marketplace where they could benefit thousands or millions of people.  If you have a technology you are developing and need help in structuring your company, contracting with vendors or other, protection of intellectual property or negotiations for financing, call us at (844) 256-5891 or contact us at [email protected]

We're here to help.