Octapharma USA announces FDA approval of Nuwiq new product strengths, expanding hemophilia A patient treatment options.
Octapharma USA today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved new product strengths for Nuwiq, offering added convenience by potentially reducing the number of vials needed for Hemophilia A patients.
The agency approved new single dose Nuwiq vial strengths of 2500, 3000 and 4000 International Units (IU), which will be available for ordering in the U.S. starting September 2017. These new vial strengths will be provided in addition to the already available strengths of 250, 500, 1000 or 2000 IU. Nuwiq is the only recombinant Factor VIII (FVIII) providing patients a wide array of vials with the lowest diluent volume of 2.5ml.
Nuwiq Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant) Lyophilized Powder for Solution for Intravenous Injection is a recombinant antihemophilic factor indicated in adults and children with Hemophilia A for on-demand treatment and control of bleeding episodes; perioperative management of bleeding; and routine prophylaxis to reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes.
“The new vial options will benefit patients, physicians and healthcare professionals by providing greater treatment flexibility and convenience,” said Octapharma USA President Flemming Nielsen. “The variety of vial options will be particularly beneficial to patients who previously may have needed more than one of the lower-strength vials. The availability of the new vial strengths further illustrates Octapharma’s unwavering commitment to the Hemophilia A community.”
The additional vial strengths offer benefits beyond potentially reducing the number of vials used per patient. The new vial sizes may benefit heavier patients who could use fewer product vials and, in some cases, just one vial. More Nuwiq vial options will increase dosing flexibility by allowing physicians to select various vial combinations to align closer to the prescribed dose. The new vial sizes could be particularly beneficial to patients treated with Nuwiq utilizing a pharmacokinetic (PK)-guided personalized prophylaxis approach—wherein the dosing is further optimized compared to standard prophylaxis.
During the recent International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) Congress, results of Octapharma’s clinical trial on the PK-guided dosing with Nuwiq were presented. In the GENA-21 (NuPreviq) study, adult Hemophilia A patients were originally started on infusions three times per week or every other day. Subsequent dosing intervals were then determined based on individual PK data. The investigators observed that 83% of participants were spontaneous bleed-free throughout the six-month study period, and 57% of patients were able to decrease infusions to twice-weekly or less.1 Octapharma’s ongoing clinical trial GENA-21b is designed to confirm the results of GENA-21.
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Reference:
1 Octapharma, Data on file. 2015.
(Source: Business Wire)
