NIH Funds UCLA Phase 2 Study of MediciNova's MN-166 in Treating Drug Addiction

The University of California, Los Angeles' (UCLA's) Department of Family Medicine/Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine, and MediciNova, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company traded on the NASDAQ Global Market

and the Jasdaq Market of the Osaka Securities Exchange (Code Number: 4875), today announced approval and funding by the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, of a Phase 2 clinical trial studying the use of MN-166 (ibudilast) for the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. Building on an ongoing UCLA MN-166 Phase 1b safety trial, NIDA has now awarded grant funding for a statistically powered Phase 2 outpatient study in methamphetamine addicts. MediciNova will provide drug supply and regulatory support for the Phase 2 trial. "UCLA has long recognized the danger of methamphetamine abuse, and NIDA has actively supported our research on understanding methamphetamine's effects on the brain and behavior in order to develop prevention and treatment strategies, including medications," said Steven Shoptaw, Ph.D., Professor, UCLA Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. "Methamphetamine addiction is a tremendous societal burden and also contributes to healthcare costs from premature conditions such as heart attacks