Posted by Michael Wonder on 15 Nov 2019
FDA approves first targeted therapy to treat patients with painful complication of sickle cell disease
15 November 2019 - Today, the U.S. FDA approved Adakveo (crizanlizumab-tmca), a treatment to reduce the frequency of vaso-occlusive crisis – a common and painful complication of sickle cell disease that occurs when blood circulation is obstructed by sickled red blood cells – for patients age 16 years and older.
The Adakveo approval was based on the results of a randomized clinical trial enrolling 198 patients with sickle cell disease with a history of vaso-occlusive crisis. Patients either received Adakveo or a placebo. The patients treated with Adakveo experienced fewer health care visits for vaso-occlusive crisis annually (median annual rate of 1.63 visits), compared to patients who received a placebo (median annual rate of 2.98 visits). In addition, 36 percent of patients who received Adakveo did not experience vaso-occlusive crisis during the study, and it delayed the time that patients first experienced vaso-occlusive crisis after starting treatment from 1.4 months to 4.1 months.
The FDA granted this application Priority Review and Breakthrough Therapy designation, which expedites the development and review of drugs that are intended to treat a serious disease or condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapies. Adakveo also received Orphan Drug designation, which provides incentives to assist and encourage the development of drugs for rare diseases.
