Carrington Laboratories, Inc. announced the results of its Phase III pivotal trial with Aliminase for ulcerative colitis.
Indications were that no significant differences were found to support a therapeutic drug effect.
In light of these results, the company plans to discontinue the development and testing of Aliminase as a treatment for ulcerative colitis.
“Although we are disappointed with the results of the ulcerative colitis study, this is only one of several research efforts underway designed to exploit the biological activity of the complex carbohydrates refined from the Aloe vera plant. We should not lose sight of the fact that Carrington Laboratories has profitable operations in wound care, AloeCeuticals and raw materials manufacturing, which have provided the cashflow for its research and development efforts and for the clinical trials without incurring any long-term debt.
Indeed, in 1999, operations without the clinical research expense of the ulcerative colitis study would have produced a profit of $1.875 million and an EBITDA of $2.78 million,” said Dr. Carlton Turner, president and CEO.
“Carrington will continue discovery and pre-clinical research to identify new drug leads, however, the company’s future strategy will be to seek pharmaceutical partners for the clinical development of these leads.
At the present time, Carrington is investigating an injectable product for the treatment of neutropenia and the use of its proprietary pectin as a drug delivery vehicle,” continued Turner.
“As we move forward, Carrington will be able to redeploy cashflow used by the clinical trials to concentrate its efforts in health services, AloeCeuticals and continued expansion of its Manapol franchise.
Business development issues will focus on aggressive national and international growth of the health services division, which includes wound care and oral technology products.
The regional and national roll out of the new AloeCeuticals brand of products containing Manapol will be accelerated,” Turner further stated.
Carrington Laboratories, Inc., is an ISO 9001-certified, research-based biopharmaceutical company currently utilizing naturally-occurring complex carbohydrates to manufacture and market products for mucositis, radiation dermatitis, wound and oral care; manufacture and market the nutraceutical raw material Manapol; and market consumer products under the AloeCeuticals brand.
Carrington‘s technology is protected by more than 119 patents in 26 countries.