Umecrine Mood Announces Completion of Patient Recruitment

Umecrine Mood AB has announced that patient recruitment for the ongoing phase I/II study with UC1010 for the treatment of severe premenstrual symptoms (PMDD) has been completed. Umecrine Mood is part of the Karolinska Development portfolio.

“About half of the patients planned for the study have completed the treatment. The remaining participants are currently in treatment or will be treated during the coming months, as soon as diagnosis has been completed. The aim is to present the first results during Q2 2014. We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you that have showed an interest in participating in the study”, says Karin Ekberg, CEO of Umecrine Mood.

Most women experience some form of symptoms the days before menstruation but in about five percent of young and middle-aged women, the symptoms are so severe that the women are considered to be suffering from PMDD. This implies that the symptoms significantly affect the women’s daily life and relationships to other people.

The basis for the symptoms relates to an altered sensitivity to a breakdown product of a sex hormone that affects the brain's emotional center.

Umecrine Mood is the first company to successfully develop compounds that are proven to reduce the activity of the breakdown product in healthy individuals, and now the selected candidate drug UC1010 is tested in patients for the first time.

"The current treatments of PMDD consist primarily of antidepressant drugs, which are not specifically developed for PMDD. These drugs are not always effective and often cause side effects. There is no doubt that these women are in need of an effective and targeted treatment”, says Karin Ekberg.

The multi-center study is double-blind and placebo controlled and will include about 120 individuals. Coordinating Investigator is Professor Marie Bixo, Institute of Clinical Research and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet.