(Reuters) - Auxilium Pharmaceuticals Inc said a trial conducted in support of an expanded indication of its hand-disorder drug Xiaflex yielded positive data.

The drug is already marketed as a treatment for Dupuytren's contracture, a condition that results in the appearance of rope-like cords between the palm and fingers that prevent sufferers from straightening their fingers.

The company said patients with multiple cords who received concurrent injections of 0.58 mg of Xiaflex experienced numerically higher response rates than those who received the first single injection in the late study that supported the current marketing approval.

Auxilium is conducting these studies to seek a multicord indication for Xiaflex from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The drug is currently recommended to be used in one cord at a time.

"Physicians who treat Dupuytren's and their prospective patients would be receptive to the potential ability to treat more affected joints at a single treatment session using a non-surgical treatment alternative," Chief Executive Adrian Adams said.

While there were adverse events in the recent trial, including two serious ones, the company said it does not believe that the rate of tendon/ligament injury following two concurrent injections was any different clinically from the overall experience with Xiaflex.

Auxilium expects to begin a larger study with Xiaflex for the concurrent treatment of multiple palpable cords in the third quarter of 2012.

(Reporting by Balaji Sridharan in Bangalore; Editing by Anthony Kurian)