Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) and Active Biotech AB (Stockholm: ACTI.ST) announced today the submission of an investigational new drug application (IND) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a clinical trial in the U.S. with laquinimod to assess drug-drug interaction. Based on the results of this study and of the ongoing phase IIb study in Europe (see below), the phase III clinical program to confirm the efficacy and safety of laquinimod in relapsing forms of MS, is planned to start in 2006. Laquinimod is a novel orally administered immunomodulatory substance, developed by Active Biotech and recently licensed to Teva.