IVERIC bio, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation for avacincaptad pegol (ACP, also known as Zimura), a novel investigational complement C5 inhibitor for the treatment of geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
To date, ACP is the first and only investigational therapy to receive Breakthrough Therapy designation status for this indication, which was granted based on the 12-month pre-specified primary endpoint data in the GATHER1 and GATHER2 pivotal clinical trials.
Breakthrough Therapy designation is designed to accelerate the development and regulatory review of potential new medicines that are intended to treat a serious condition and address a significant unmet medical need. The new medicine needs to show preliminary clinical evidence that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement in effectiveness or safety over available therapies on a clinically significant endpoint and in general, should show a clear advantage.
“We believe this Breakthrough designation reflects the fact that both GATHER1 and GATHER2 met their primary endpoint with a safety profile that meets the stringent criteria required,” said Glenn P. Sblendorio, CEO of Iveric Bio. “We are now focused on the execution of our full NDA submission and launch preparation, with the possibility of being first to market. We look forward to working collaboratively with the FDA to expedite the review timeline for avacincaptad pegol and to potentially bringing a new therapy to AMD patients impacted by GA.”
Recently, Iveric Bio announced the submission of the first part of its New Drug Application (NDA) for rolling review, which included the full clinical data package from the GATHER1 and GATHER2 pivotal trials. The company is on track to complete the final part of the NDA submission by the end of this year.
“In both GATHER1 and GATHER2, avacincaptad pegol consistently showed a treatment effect with the first measurement at month 6 that was persistent and continued to increase over time, with observed efficacy rates of up to 35%,” said Pravin U. Dugel, MD, president of Iveric Bio. “We believe ACP has the potential to safely and effectively preserve central vision by saving photoreceptor cells for patients living with this life-changing disease that leads to irreversible blindness.”
The FDA’s Breakthrough Therapy designation decision was based on the 12-month primary efficacy endpoint data from the GATHER1 and GATHER2 pivotal studies which evaluated the safety and efficacy of ACP in patients with GA located inside and/or outside of the clinical fovea.
Per the special protocol assessment (SPA) agreement for GATHER2, the FDA required the mean rate of growth (slope) in GA area from baseline to month 12.
These results showed a significant treatment difference of 35% (p=0.0050; GATHER1) and 18% (p= 0.0039, GATHER2) compared to sham using observed (non-transformed) data; and 28% (p=0.0063; GATHER1) and 14% (p= 0.0064; GATHER2) using square root transformation. In both GATHER1 and GATHER2 there were no events of serious intraocular inflammation, vasculitis, or endophthalmitis.