NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lev Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCBB: LEVP.OB - News) today announced that it has been advised that the Blood Products Advisory Committee (BPAC) for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intends to review the Biologics License Application (BLA) for Cinryze (C1 inhibitor) on May 2, 2008, for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE), or C1 inhibitor deficiency.
Advisory committees provide FDA with independent advice from outside experts. The BPAC meeting represents the next stage in the regulatory process for Lev as the Company continues to work with FDA toward obtaining market approval for Cinryze.
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to present our data to the panelists as a part of the regulatory review process for Cinryze,” said Joshua Schein, chief executive officer of Lev. “In addition, we are making important progress in preparing our responses to FDA’s questions from the complete response letter.”
Lev received a complete response letter from FDA on January 30, 2008, which requested information with respect to chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC), as well as additional analyses of existing efficacy data from the Cinryze trials. No additional safety information and no additional clinical trials have been requested to date.
As part of Lev’s CHANGE trial (C1 inhibitor in Hereditary Angioedema Nanofiltration Generation evaluating Efficacy), the Company is conducting two open label studies for the treatment and prevention of HAE attacks. More than 100 qualified HAE patients are enrolled in our open label trials and continue to receive Cinryze on a compassionate use basis. To date, over 6,000 doses of Cinryze have been administered in all parts of the CHANGE trials with more than a dozen patients having individually received well over 100 doses.
Additionally, Cinryze has been well tolerated with an adverse event profile no different from placebo. The most common adverse reactions observed have been injection site rash and lightheadedness. No drug-related serious adverse events (SAEs), no immunogenicity and no decrease in efficacy have been observed.
C1 inhibitor has been used for more than 35 years in Europe to treat patients with C1 inhibitor deficiency.
About Hereditary Angioedema
HAE is a rare, severely debilitating, life-threatening genetic disorder caused by a deficiency of C1 inhibitor, a human plasma protein. This condition is the result of a defect in the gene controlling the synthesis of C1 inhibitor. C1 inhibitor maintains the natural regulation of the contact, complement, and fibrinolytic systems, that when left unrestricted, can initiate or perpetuate an attack by consuming the already low levels of endogenous C1 inhibitor in HAE patients. Patients with C1 inhibitor deficiency experience recurrent, unpredictable, debilitating, and potentially life threatening attacks of inflammation affecting the larynx, abdomen, face, extremities and urogenital tract. While there is no approved therapy for acute HAE attacks in the U.S., C1 inhibitor has been used in Europe to treat HAE for more than 35 years. There are estimated to be 10,000 people with HAE in the United States.
For more information on HAE, visit the U.S. HAE Association’s website at: www.haea.org.
About Lev Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Lev is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Lev’s lead product candidate, Cinryze (C1 inhibitor), is being developed as a replacement therapy for both the acute and prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE), also known as C1 inhibitor deficiency. Cinryze has been granted orphan drug status for the acute and prophylactic treatment of HAE, potentially securing, upon approval, market exclusivity for seven years. Additionally, Lev is in the process of prioritizing its C1 inhibitor development platform for the treatment of selective other diseases and disorders in which inflammation is known or believed to play an underlying role.
For more information about Lev, C1 inhibitor, or HAE, please contact Lev directly at 212-682-3096, or visit Lev’s website at www.levpharma.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding our plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. Various important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that we make, including risks related to new information arising out of clinical trial results, the risk that the safety and/or efficacy results of existing clinical trials for Cinryze will not support approval for a biologics license, the risk that the FDA may require us to conduct additional clinical trials for Cinryze the risk that the FDA may interpret data differently than we do or require more data or a more rigorous analysis of data than expected, the risk that the FDA will not approve a product for which a biologics license has been applied, our heavy dependence on the success of Cinryze, our dependence on our suppliers, our dependence on third parties to manufacture Cinryze, obtaining regulatory approval to market Cinryze, market acceptance of Cinryze, maintaining the orphan drug status associated with Cinryze, the risks associated with dependence upon key personnel, and our ability to obtain additional funding to support our business activities. These and other risks are described in greater detail in the “Risk Factors that May Affect Results” section of our filings with the SEC. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, joint ventures or investments we may make. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Contact: Investor: Lev Pharmaceuticals Jason Tuthill, 212-850-9130 jtuthill@levpharma.com or Media: WeissComm Partners Katherine Stueland, 312-208-0320 kstueland@wcpglobal.com Source: Lev Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
