ImmunoGen gets orphan drug designation for IMGN901 compound
Published in
M2 Pharma
on Tuesday, 09 March 2010 at
12:22 GMT
Copyright (C) 2010, M2 Communications
9 March 2010 - US-based biotechnology company ImmunoGen Inc (NASDAQ: IMGN) announced yesterday that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to its IMGN901 compound when used for the treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC).
IMGN901 is an investigational agent designed to kill cancer cells that express CD56, a protein. This TAP compound consists of a CD56-binding antibody with a potent cancer-cell killing agent, DM1, attached to it using an engineered linker.
Through a separate process, the European Union (EU) Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) concurrently also granted IMGN901 orphan medicinal product designation for the treatment of MCC.
Daniel Junius, president and chief executive officer, said that IMGN901 has shown promising activity among the small number of MCC patients treated to date, suggesting this is a potential registration path for the compound.
Release date: 09 Mar 2010