EMEA grants Kiadis Pharma lead product ATIR orphan drug designation

24-Sep-2008 - Netherlands

Kiadis Pharma announced that its lead product ATIR™ has been granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) for the prevention of acute Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD) following an allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

“Following the orphan drug designation granted by the FDA for our lead product ATIR™, this is another important milestone in the development of ATIR™ as a novel approach which may enable a safe and potentially life-saving mismatched bone marrow transplantation as a treatment option for end-stage blood cancer patients” says Dr. Manja Bouman, Chief Executive Officer of Kiadis Pharma.

ATIR™ is under development to allow early immune reconstitution while preventing life-threatening GvHD, a major complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantations. GvHD is a condition caused by the donor immune cells attacking the patient’s tissues and organs. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantations today require that the patient and donor immune systems are highly similar in order to reduce the risk of GvHD and therefore these transplantations rely on matching donors. By eliminating those immune cells which could attack the patient’s body and thus preventing the occurrence of GvHD, ATIR™ enables the use of a mismatched donor.

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