UPDATE 1-XenoPort, Glaxo restless legs drug meets goal in trial
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Jan 15 (Reuters) - Biopharmaceutical company XenoPort Inc (XNPT.O) and British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) (GSK.N) said a late-stage trial of their restless legs syndrome (RLS) drug met the main goal of reducing patient relapses.
The companies said treatment with the drug, code-named XP13512, resulted in a statistically significant lower proportion of relapses compared to a dummy drug.
XP13512 was effective and generally well-tolerated when given to primary RLS patients for nine months, XenoPort's Chief Executive Officer Ronald Barrett said in a statement.
This study is a follow-up to another late-stage trial, which showed statistically significant benefits of the drug in treating RLS symptoms over 12 weeks.
The latest trial enrolled 327 patients diagnosed with moderate-to-severe primary RLS.
According to the National Institutes of Health, up to 12 million people in the United States are afflicted with RLS, the companies said.
In RLS, people experience sensations in the legs that result in a compelling urge to move, to relieve the discomfort temporarily. Because symptoms typically occur at night, RLS patients often suffer from sleep disruption.
(Reporting by Varsha Tickoo in Bangalore; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
((varsha.tickoo@reuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: varsha.tickoo.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: XENOPORT/TRIAL GLAXO
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