Posted by Michael Wonder on 14 Jun 2018
U.S. FDA approves moxidectin for the treatment of river blindness
13 June 2018 - Medicines Development for Global Health and the World Health Organisation Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases announced today that the US FDA approved moxidectin for the treatment of river blindness (onchocerciasis) in patients aged 12 years and older.
The FDA has also awarded Medicines Development for Global Health a priority review voucher (PRV).
This approval is the result of a paradigm-changing approach to the development of new medicines for neglected diseases, enabled by the PRV program. “As neglected tropical diseases are endemic in low and middle-income countries, there are limited markets for medicines. Therefore, finding investors willing to support development in these diseases is extremely difficult” added Mark Sullivan. “However, the introduction of the FDA’s neglected diseases PRV program has created a market around neglected diseases.“
