The Antibody Society

the official website of the antibody society

An international non-profit supporting antibody-related research and development.

You are here: Home / Archives for Food and Drug Administration

FDA approves Evkeeza (evinacumab-dgnb) for homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia

by

On February 11, 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Evkeeza (evinacumab-dgnb) injection as an add-on treatment for patients aged 12 years and older with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH), a genetic condition that causes severely high cholesterol. Evkeeza received orphan drug and breakthrough therapy designations for this indication, and the biological license application received a priority review.

Evinacumab is a human IgG4k antibody targeting angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3), which regulates the metabolism of plasma lipids, including low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides. The antibody was derived from Regeneron’s Velocimmune® technology platform, and includes a stabilizing mutation in the hinge region to minimize half-antibody formation.

Data from the Phase 3 ELIPSE trial (NCT03399786) was used as the basis of regulatory submissions. In this study 65 patients were randomized to receive either IV administration of evinacumab 15 mg/kg every four weeks (n=43) or placebo (n=22), plus other lipid-lowering therapies. The primary endpoint was the percent change from baseline in the LDL cholesterol level at Week 24. At baseline, LDL cholesterol was 260 mg/dL in the evinacumab group and 247 mg/dL in the placebo group. The primary endpoint of the study was met. Relative to baseline, the LDL cholesterol level at Week 24 was reduced by 47.1% in the patients administered evinacumab, but increased 1.9% in the placebo group.

Keep up to date on US and EU approvals all year by visiting our website!

The Antibody Society maintains a comprehensive table of approved monoclonal antibody therapeutics and those in regulatory review in the EU or US. The table, which is located in the Web Resources section of the Society’s website, can be downloaded in Excel format.

Evinacumab is the first investigational (i.e., not previously approved for any indication) antibody therapeutic to be granted an approval in the EU or US in 2021. There are currently 17 investigational antibody therapeutics in regulatory review in the EU or US.

AIRR Community and PrecisionFDA COVID-19 Precision Immunology App-a-thon

by

The AIRR Community is helping to lead the PrecisionFDA COVID-19 Precision Immunology App-a-thon.  

This is part of the “precisionFDA Challenges” program, which is designed to engage and improve software that analyzes NGS (next generation sequencing data) through community challenges. There were 68 bioinformaticians pre-registered for the Precision Immunology Challenge, and more are expected to join as the app-a-thon continues.  These “citizen scientists” will form teams to design software that will make AIRR-seq data more available and accessible for immunologists to realize the promise of immunological big data for improved diagnostics and therapeutics in immunotherapy.

The Precision Immunology Challenge uses AIRR-seq repertoire data from COVID-19 patients downloaded from the AIRR Data Commons (VDJServer and iReceptor Public Archive) through the iReceptor Gateway. These data sets have been carefully chosen to include data on patient demography and clinical outcome in order to illuminate the relationship between personalized adaptive immunity molecular data and COVID-19 disease variables.

The AIRR Community Diagnostics Working Group published a blog post as part of this effort, explaining the possible uses of AIRR-seq data in the clinic in the near future.

The app-a-thon runs through February 2021 at which time the apps will be judged for usability, impact and innovation.

 

FDA approves ansuvimab-zykl for Ebola virus infection

by

On December 21, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Ebanga (ansuvimab-zykl) for the treatment for Zaire ebolavirus (Ebolavirus) infection in adults and children. Ebanga had been granted US Orphan Drug designation and Breakthrough Therapy designations. Ansuvimab is a human IgG1 monoclonal antibody that binds and neutralizes the virus.

The safety and efficacy of Ebanga were evaluated in the multi-center, open-label, randomized controlled PALM trial. In this study, 174 participants (120 adults and 54 pediatric patients) with confirmed Ebolavirus infection received Ebanga intravenously as a single 50 mg/kg infusion and 168 participants (135 adults and 33 pediatric patients) received an investigational control. The primary efficacy endpoint was 28-day mortality. Of the 174 patients who received Ebanga, 35.1% died after 28 days, compared to 49.4% of the 168 patients who received a control.

Ebanga is the 12th antibody therapeutic to be granted a first approval in the US or EU during 2020.

The Antibody Society maintains a comprehensive table of approved monoclonal antibody therapeutics and those in regulatory review in the EU or US. The table, which is located in the Web Resources section of the Society’s website, can be downloaded in Excel format.

FDA approves MARGENZA™

by

On December 16, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration approved margetuximab-cmkb (MARGENZA), in combination with chemotherapy, for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have received two or more prior anti-HER2 regimens, at least one of which was for metastatic disease. MARGENZA is a chimeric IgG1 monoclonal antibody that binds to HER2. The antibody’s modified Fc region increases binding to the activating Fc receptor CD16A and decreases binding to the inhibitory Fc receptor CD32B,  which leads to greater in vitro antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and natural killer cell activation.

FDA’s approval was based on safety and efficacy results from the pivotal Phase 3 SOPHIA trial, which showed a statistically significant 24% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death with MARGENZA plus chemotherapy compared with trastuzumab plus chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR]=0.76; 95% CI, 0.59-0.98; P=0.033; median PFS 5.8 vs 4.9 months). The objective response rate  for MARGENZA plus chemotherapy was 22% vs 16% for trastuzumab plus chemotherapy.

MARGENZA is the 11th antibody therapeutic to be granted a first approval in the US or EU during 2020.

The Antibody Society maintains a comprehensive table of approved monoclonal antibody therapeutics and those in regulatory review in the EU or US. The table, which is located in the Web Resources section of the Society’s website, can be downloaded in Excel format.

FDA approves naxitamab-gqgk (DANYELZA®)

by

On November 25, 2020, Y-mAbs announced that the FDA approved naxitamab-gqgk (DANYELZA®) 40mg/10ml in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor for the treatment of pediatric patients 1 year of age and older and adult patients with relapsed or refractory high-risk neuroblastoma in the bone or bone marrow who have demonstrated a partial response, minor response, or stable disease to prior therapy. The approval for this indication was granted under FDA’s accelerated approval regulations based on the overall response rate and duration of response.

Naxitamab, a humanized anti-GD2 IgG1k antibody was developed by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and licensed to Y-mAbs Therapeutics. FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy and  Rare Pediatric Drug designations to naxitamab for the treatment of patients with neuroblastoma, and naxitamab was granted Orphan Drug designations in the EU and US for this indication.

DANYELZA® is the 10th antibody therapeutic to be granted a first approval in the US or EU in 2020.

The Antibody Society maintains a comprehensive table of approved monoclonal antibody therapeutics and those in regulatory review in the EU or US. The table, which is located in the Web Resources section of the Society’s website, can be downloaded in Excel format.