31 March 2015 - - US-based Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IMNP) plans to expand its planned bullous pemphigoid clinical development for bertilimumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting eotaxin-1, the company said on Tuesday. Bullous Pemphigoid is an orphan auto-immune blistering disease of the skin affecting approximately 60,000 patients in the US and Europe. Immune expects to start enrolling patients in a Phase II clinical trial in Israel to be treated during 2Q15. Additionally, following an International Medical advisory board meeting held in San Francisco immediately prior to the American Academy of Dermatology annual meeting, Immune has decided to expand its clinical programme to include US centers in the Phase II BP development program. The company also intends to initiate studies to further investigate the relationship between eotaxin-1 levels and the Bullous Pemphigoid Disease Area Activity Index (BPDAI) and to assess the burden of illness from a medical and economic standpoint. Immune has formed an International Medical advisory board for the development of Bertilimumab in BP, with Key Opinion Leaders including Professor Neil Korman (Case Western, Cleveland, USA), Professor Russell Hall (Duke University, USA), Professor Pascal Joly (Rouen, France) and Professor Dedee Murrell (Sydney, Australia). The company develops novel, highly-targeted antibody therapeutics to improve the lives of patients with inflammatory diseases and cancer. Immune's lead product candidate, bertilimumab, is in clinical development for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease as well as bullous pemphigoid. The company has licensed worldwide rights for systemic indications of bertilimumab from iCo Therapeutics (TSX: ICO) (OTCQX: ICOTF) in June 2011, while iCo retained rights to all ophthalmic indications. iCo originally licensed the exclusive world-wide rights to bertilimumab in 2006 from MedImmune, the Global research and development arm of British drugmaker AstraZeneca.