Business Insights
PRnewswire | July 28, 2023
TriRx Pharmaceutical Services, LLC, a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), welcomed the UK Government's recent announcement on England's second Investment Zone, focused on Life Sciences in the Liverpool City Region.
TriRx Speke Ltd. is the first investor and is well-positioned to further advance its capabilities by adding upstream technologies to manufacture monoclonal antibodies to an existing large-scale biotech purification facility. The current facility has significant capacity to support the high-growth large-molecule pharmaceutical market. Monoclonal antibodies (also referred to as mAbs) are a type of immunotherapy that work by blocking certain diseases from affecting healthy cells and are used to treat numerous types of diseases including cancers, arthritis and skin conditions. This additional investment to augment the TriRx facility at Speke will foster economic growth, create high-value jobs and complement the existing Speke Biopharmaceutical cluster in the region.
"We are delighted to be expanding our capability in this critical immunotherapy area, to become a worldwide center of technical excellence located in the UK in the monoclonal antibody development and manufacturing field to serve the human and animal pharmaceutical markets," said Tim Tyson, Chairman and CEO of TriRx.
About TriRx Pharmaceutical Services:
TriRx Pharmaceutical Services is a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) serving global pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and animal health markets. Headquartered approximately 50 miles outside of New York City in Norwalk, Connecticut, TriRx operates facilities in multiple regions providing state-of-the-art laboratory, manufacturing, packaging, warehousing, and technical service capabilities. Founded and led by a team of pharmaceutical industry executives, who have served as both contract service providers and outsourcing customers, TriRx has a profound and multifaceted understanding of client needs. It has the knowledge and commitment to deliver an exceptional experience on every project, consistently meeting or exceeding quality standards, regulatory requirements, on-time-in-full (OTIF) delivery, and all other customer requirements and expectations.
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Pharmacy Market
Globenewswire | July 20, 2023
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the completion of its acquisition from Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holdings of an exclusive license for North America for vamorolone, a potential treatment for patients suffering with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The license is for exclusive commercial rights in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as well as the right of first negotiation in Europe and Japan should Santhera pursue partnership opportunities. Additionally, Catalyst will hold North American rights for any future approved indications of vamorolone.
Vamorolone is a promising best-in-class dissociative anti-inflammatory steroid treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy ("DMD"). In clinical studies, vamorolone demonstrated efficacy with a significant reduction of steroid-associated side effects and benefits for bone health, growth, and behavior, offering the potential to address an important unmet medical need in DMD patients. Vamorolone has received FDA Orphan Drug and Fast Track designations and has been granted a PDUFA action date of October 26, 2023.
"With the addition of vamorolone, we have accomplished another important milestone in the execution of our portfolio expansion strategy," stated Patrick J. McEnany, Chairman and CEO of Catalyst. "The license for vamorolone reflects our strategic focus on opportunities where we can not only apply novel technology to address critical unmet patient needs, but where we can leverage Catalyst's existing integrated capabilities and infrastructure to commercialize the drug efficiently. We believe that vamorolone, if approved, has the potential to deliver significant near and long-term value and to be a very meaningful advancement to the current standard of care paradigm for DMD patients."
Mr. McEnany continued, "Vamorolone fortifies our neuromuscular portfolio with an innovative therapy that, in clinical studies, demonstrated an enhanced safety and tolerability profile as compared to prednisone. We plan to include vamorolone for DMD patients in our Catalyst Pathways® specialty pharmacy program to help ensure that all patients have access to the full patient benefits of the program. Our planned strategy to facilitate access to vamorolone underscores our steadfast commitment to improving the lives of patients suffering from rare neurological conditions."
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, or DMD, the most common form of muscular dystrophy, is a rare, fatal neuromuscular disorder characterized by progressive muscular dysfunction, leading to loss of ambulation, respiratory failure, and death. Corticosteroids are the current standard of care for treating DMD; however, this treatment is associated with significant side effect burdens. The U.S. prevalence for DMD is estimated to be between 11,000 and 13,000 patients. Of patients currently being treated for DMD, approximately 75% receive concomitant steroid treatment.
Vamorolone Commercial Operational Plan
Catalyst expects to launch vamorolone early in the first quarter of 2024, assuming regulatory approval on the PDUFA date of October 26, 2023. Catalyst anticipates minimal sales and marketing personnel expansion with fewer than 10 additional team members required, resulting from the exceptional synergy within its existing neuromuscular franchise. Catalyst plans to incorporate vamorolone for DMD into its Catalyst Pathways® specialty pharmacy program to ensure that patients have access to full patient benefits.
About Vamorolone
Vamorolone is an investigational drug candidate with a mode of action based on binding to the same receptor as glucocorticoids but modifying its downstream activity and as such, is considered a dissociative anti-inflammatory steroid drug [2-5]. This mechanism has shown the potential to 'dissociate' efficacy from steroid safety concerns, and therefore vamorolone could emerge as an alternative to existing corticosteroids, the current standard of care in children, adolescent, and adult patients with DMD. In the pivotal VISION-DMD study, vamorolone met the primary endpoint Time to Stand (TTSTAND) velocity versus placebo (p=0.002) at 24 weeks of treatment and showed a good safety and tolerability profile [1]. The most commonly reported adverse events versus placebo from the VISION-DMD study were cushingoid features, vomiting, and vitamin D deficiency. Adverse events were generally of mild to moderate severity.
Vamorolone has been granted Orphan Drug status for DMD in the U.S. and Europe and has received Fast Track and Rare Pediatric Disease designations by the U.S. FDA and Promising Innovative Medicine (PIM) status from the UK MHRA for DMD. Vamorolone is an investigational medicine and is currently not approved for use by any health authority.
About Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy ("DMD") is a rare inherited X-chromosome-linked disease, which almost exclusively affects males. DMD is characterized by muscle inflammation and damage which are present at birth or shortly thereafter. Inflammation leads to fibrosis of muscle and is clinically manifested by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Major milestones in the disease are the loss of ambulation, the loss of self-feeding, the start of assisted ventilation, and the development of cardiomyopathy. DMD reduces life expectancy to before the fourth decade due to respiratory and/or cardiac failure. Corticosteroids are the current standard of care for the treatment of DMD.
About Catalyst Pharmaceuticals
With exceptional patient focus, Catalyst is committed to developing and commercializing innovative first-in-class medicines that address rare neurological and epileptic diseases. Catalyst's U.S. commercial product portfolio consists of FIRDAPSE® (amifampridine) Tablets 10 mg, approved for the treatment of Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome ("LEMS") for adults and children ages six to seventeen. In January 2023, Catalyst acquired the U.S. commercial rights of FYCOMPA® (perampanel) CIII, a prescription medicine approved in people with epilepsy aged four and older alone or with other medicines to treat partial-onset seizures with or without secondarily generalized seizures, and with other medicines to treat primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures for people with epilepsy aged 12 and older. Further, Canada's national healthcare regulatory agency, Health Canada, has approved the use of FIRDAPSE for the treatment of adult patients in Canada with LEMS.
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PHARMACY MARKET
globenewswire | September 12, 2023
Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. a pharmaceutical company advancing medicines to solve patients’ problems with current standards of care and provide transformative products to improve their lives, today announced acceptance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Company’s NDA for Libervant™ (diazepam) Buccal Film in pediatric patients between two and five years of age and the assignment of a PDUFA goal date of April 28, 2024.
Aquestive’s NDA for approval of Libervant™ Buccal Film for the acute treatment of intermittent, stereotypic episodes of frequent seizure activity (i.e., seizure clusters, acute repetitive seizures) in patients between two and five years of age has been accepted by the FDA. Diastat® (diazepam) Rectal Gel is the only treatment currently available to this patient population for this indication. The Company received tentative approval for Libervant for the treatment of intermittent, stereotypic episodes of frequent seizure activity (i.e., seizure clusters, acute repetitive seizures) in patients 12 years of age and older in August 2022, but Libervant is currently under an orphan drug block to market access until January 2027.
“The FDA’s acceptance of our most recent filing for Libervant is another step forward in bringing this important treatment option to patients,” said Daniel Barber, Chief Executive Officer of Aquestive. “When it comes to the treatment of seizure clusters in pediatric patients with epilepsy five years of age and under, physicians and caregivers have limited options. We believe Libervant, as an oral alternative to existing device-based products, will be well-received by this patient population, if approved with market access.”
About Libervant
Libervant is a buccally, or inside of the cheek, administered film formulation of diazepam, a benzodiazepine intended for the acute treatment of intermittent, stereotypic episodes of frequent seizure activity (i.e., seizure clusters, acute repetitive seizures) that are distinct from a patient’s usual seizure pattern. Aquestive developed Libervant as an alternative to the device-based products currently available for patients with refractory epilepsy, including a rectal gel and nasal spray products. The FDA has granted tentative approval for Libervant for treatment of these epilepsy patients 12 years of age and older, with U.S. market access for Libervant for this age group of patients subject to the expiration of the existing orphan drug market exclusivity of a previously FDA approved drug scheduled to expire in January 2027. The NDA submitted today for Libervant for epilepsy patients between two and five years of age is subject to FDA approval, including for U.S. market access.
About Aquestive
Aquestive is a pharmaceutical company advancing medicines to solve patients’ problems with current standards of care and provide transformative products to improve their lives. We are developing orally administered products to deliver complex molecules, providing novel alternatives to invasive and inconvenient standard of care therapies. Aquestive has five commercialized products marketed by its licensees in the U.S. and around the world, and is the exclusive manufacturer of these licensed products. The Company also collaborates with pharmaceutical companies to bring new molecules to market using proprietary, best-in-class technologies, like PharmFilm®, and has proven drug development and commercialization capabilities. Aquestive is advancing a late-stage proprietary product pipeline focused on treating diseases of the central nervous system and an earlier stage pipeline for the treatment of severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis.
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