Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc said two doses of its drug to smooth cellulite were statistically significant in a mid-stage study, sending its shares up 4.7 percent in premarket trading.
The trial tested three doses on the drug, collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH), against a placebo in 150 women between the ages of 18 and 45 in the United States.
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Auxilium said 68 percent of the patients given a mid and high dose of CCH, already marketed as Xiaflex to treat other conditions, reported being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the results, compared to only 34 percent of patients given a placebo.
CCH is sold in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia as Xiaflex to treat Dupuytren's contracture – a progressive hand disease that affects a person's ability to straighten and properly use their fingers.
The drug is also marketed in the United States to treat men with bothersome curvature of the penis, a condition known as Peyronie's disease.
Xiaflex generated sales of $49.2 million in the first half of this year, accounting for nearly 30 percent of Auxilium's total revenue.
Cellulite is a localized metabolic disorder of tissue under the skin that has been reported in 85 to 98 percent of post-pubertal females.
The condition involves the loss of skin elasticity due to the shrinking of collagen cords that attach skin to muscle. When the fat in cellulite prone areas expands, the cords tether the skin, causing surface dimpling characteristic of cellulite.
CCH is intended to target those cords and ease the dimpling, potentially resulting skin smoothing. The drug is also being evaluated for use in frozen shoulder syndrome.
There are no FDA-approved treatments and little scientific evidence that any current treatments are beneficial, Auxilium said on Thursday.
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