Empowered Patient Podcast Path to Bringing Prodrugs to Market for Rare Diseases with Rich Pascoe Zevra Therapeutics
Rich Pascoe, CEO of Zevra Therapeutics, is working with a team with deep experience developing drugs and getting them approved by the FDA. Having developed multiple prodrugs for pain and ADHD, Zevra is now developing rare disease therapies with an initial focus on Niemann Pick Disease Type C and idiopathic hypersomnia.
Rich explains, "Our lead product is a drug called arimoclomol. It's intended for the treatment of Niemann Pick Type C disease, or NPC for short. Niemann Pick primarily affects children. It's a lysosomal storage disorder condition, meaning patients lack the ability to break down certain things, including cholesterol. As a result, they develop a myriad of symptoms that ultimately lead to, in most cases, the patient's death. The issues they deal with revolve around loss of ambulation and the ability to swallow, and it affects their cognitive function. It's a progressive disease, and oftentimes, it can advance very rapidly."
"A little history on arimoclomol. The drug was previously in the hands of a company out of Denmark. We acquired the asset last year from that company along with some of the individuals at the company that are critical for the success of the product going forward."
"In that setting, Orphazyme, the company that had the drug before us, had submitted it for approval here in the US with the FDA. The FDA rejected that approval request based on a number of factors that we have subsequently been working to address. We believe that given our track record as a company of being able to work with the FDA to get drugs approved, in some cases under some very challenging circumstances, that we are well-equipped to handle and manage this submission."
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