BEDMINSTER, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NPSP), a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics for rare gastrointestinal and endocrine disorders, today announced that NASDAQ has halted trading of the company’s common stock.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee is meeting today to review Gattex® (teduglutide), a novel, recombinant analog of human glucagon-like peptide 2 (a protein involved in the rehabilitation of the intestinal lining) being developed for the treatment of adults with short bowel syndrome.
The Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET. The briefing materials can be found on the FDA website at http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/Drugs/GastrointestinalDrugsAdvisoryCommittee/ucm291609.htm. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act date for completion of the review of the company’s New Drug Application for Gattex is December 30, 2012.
The Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee reviews and evaluates available data concerning the safety and effectiveness of marketed and investigational human drug products for use in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and makes appropriate recommendations to the FDA.
About Short Bowel Syndrome
Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a highly disabling condition that can impair a patient’s quality of life and lead to serious life-threatening complications. SBS typically arises after extensive resection of the bowel due to Crohn’s disease, ischemia or other conditions. SBS patients often suffer from malnutrition, severe diarrhea, dehydration, fatigue, osteopenia, and weight loss due to the reduced intestinal capacity to absorb nutrients, water, and electrolytes. The usual treatment for SBS is nutritional support, including parenteral nutrition (PN) and/or intravenous (IV) fluids to supplement and stabilize nutritional needs.
Although PN can provide nutritional support for SBS patients, it does not improve the body’s own ability to absorb nutrients. PN is associated with serious complications, such as infections, blood clots or liver damage, and the risks increase the longer patients are on PN. Patients on PN often experience poor quality of life with difficulty sleeping, and frequent urination, and patients receiving chronic PN often experience a loss of independence.
About Gattex® (teduglutide)
Gattex (teduglutide) is a novel, recombinant analog of human glucagon-like peptide 2, a protein involved in the rehabilitation of the intestinal lining. It has been developed to reduce dependence on parenteral nutrition (PN) in adult patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS). Significant reductions in mean PN/IV infusion volume from baseline to end of treatment were seen in the Phase 3 studies of teduglutide. In addition, some patients were able to be weaned off PN during these trials. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events with Gattex in the placebo-controlled studies that occurred at a higher frequency with Gattex were abdominal pain, upper respiratory tract infections, nausea, injection site reactions, abdominal distension, headaches, and gastrointestinal stoma complications.
Gattex has received orphan drug designation for the treatment of SBS from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the FDA.
In 2007, NPS granted Nycomed, a Takeda company, the rights to develop and commercialize teduglutide outside the United States, Canada, Mexico and Israel. NPS retains all rights to teduglutide in North America. A positive opinion was issued on June 21, 2012 by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, followed by the European Commission granting European market authorization on August 30, 2012 for the medicinal product teduglutide (trade name in Europe: Revestive®) as a once-daily treatment for adult patients with short bowel syndrome.
About NPS Pharmaceuticals
NPS Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing orphan products to patients with rare disorders and few, if any, therapeutic options. NPS is advancing two late-stage registration programs. A New Drug Application is undergoing FDA review for Gattex® (teduglutide) as a treatment for adults with short bowel syndrome (SBS) and a Phase 3 registration study has been completed for Natpara® (recombinant human parathyroid hormone (rhPTH [1-84]) in adult hypoparathyroidism. NPS’ earlier stage pipeline includes two calcilytic compounds, NPSP790 and NPSP795, with potential application in rare disorders involving increased calcium receptor activity, such as autosomal dominant hypocalcemia with hypercalciuria (ADHH). NPS complements its proprietary programs with a royalty-based portfolio of products and product candidates that includes agreements with Amgen, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Kyowa Hakko Kirin, and Nycomed, a Takeda company.
“NPS,” “NPS Pharmaceuticals,” “Gattex,” and “Natpara” are the company’s trademarks. All other trademarks, trade names or service marks appearing in this press release are the property of their respective owners.
Statements made in this press release, which are not historical in nature, constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on the company’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Risks associated to the company’s business include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with any failure by the company to successfully complete its preclinical and clinical studies within the projected time frames or not at all, the risk of not gaining marketing approvals for Gattex and Natpara, the risks associated with the company’s strategy, as well as other risk factors described in the company’s periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Form 10-Qs. All information in this press release is as of the date of this release and NPS undertakes no duty to update this information.
Contact:
NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Susan M. Mesco, 908-450-5516 (office)
smesco@npsp.com
www.npsp.com
