RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Sept. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCRX) today announced that the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has granted marketing authorization for oral, once-daily ORLADEYO® (berotralstat) for the prevention of recurrent attacks in patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE) 12 years and older. To support commercialization efforts in the UAE, BioCryst has entered into a supply and distribution agreement with NewBridge Pharmaceuticals (NewBridge), which also covers the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Iraq.

“As the first targeted oral, once-daily treatment, ORLADEYO provides an important new treatment option for patients and physicians,” said Henrik Balle Boysen, executive vice president and chief operating officer of HAE International, a global non-profit network of patient associations dedicated to improving the lives of people with HAE. “While there is still more work to be done to raise awareness to support earlier diagnosis and treatment, the approval of ORLADEYO is an important advancement for HAE patients in the UAE.”

“With many prevalent rare diseases in the MENA region, I am personally inspired, and we at NewBridge are proud, to be part of this partnership with BioCryst for the UAE and a number of other markets in the GCC. This partnership supports our mission by providing access to an important new therapy for HAE patients in a hope that we can help ease their suffering and support them to live better lives,” said Joe Henein, president and chief executive officer of NewBridge Pharma.

“NewBridge is the right partner for BioCryst as they share our vision to bring innovative medicines to patients living with rare diseases,” said Charlie Gayer, chief commercial officer of BioCryst. “With experience across regulatory, medical and commercial, and strong local relationships with key stakeholders, NewBridge will help accelerate our efforts to bring ORLADEYO to patients across the globe by providing a much-needed new option to HAE patients in the UAE.”

NewBridge Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in Dubai, UAE, is a regional specialty company with a comprehensive pharmaceutical platform of services and expertise, established to bridge the access gap and partner with global pharma and biotech companies to in-license and commercialize U.S. Food and Drug Administration or European Medicines Agency approved innovative therapeutics that address unmet medical needs into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions.

 

ORLADEYO® (berotralstat) is the first and only oral therapy designed specifically to prevent attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in adult and pediatric patients 12 years and older. One capsule of ORLADEYO per day works to prevent HAE attacks by decreasing the activity of plasma kallikrein.

 

INDICATION
ORLADEYO® (berotralstat) is a plasma kallikrein inhibitor indicated for prophylaxis to prevent attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in adults and pediatric patients 12 years and older.

 

Limitations of use
The safety and effectiveness of ORLADEYO for the treatment of acute HAE attacks have not been established. ORLADEYO should not be used for the treatment of acute HAE attacks. Additional doses or dosages of ORLADEYO higher than 150 mg once daily are not recommended due to the potential for QT prolongation.

 

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
An increase in QT prolongation was observed at dosages higher than the recommended 150 mg once-daily dosage and was concentration dependent.

The most common adverse reactions (≥10% and higher than placebo) in patients receiving ORLADEYO were abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, back pain, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

A reduced dosage of 110 mg taken orally once daily with food is recommended in patients with moderate or severe hepatic impairment (Child-Pugh B or C) and in patients taking chronically administered P-glycoprotein (P-gp) or breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) inhibitors (eg, cyclosporine).

Berotralstat is a substrate of P-gp and BCRP. P-gp inducers (eg, rifampin, St. John’s wort) may decrease berotralstat plasma concentration, leading to reduced efficacy of ORLADEYO. The use of P-gp inducers is not recommended with ORLADEYO.

ORLADEYO at a dose of 150 mg is a moderate inhibitor of CYP2D6 and CYP3A4. For concomitant medications with a narrow therapeutic index that are predominantly metabolized by CYP2D6 or CYP3A4, appropriate monitoring and dose titration is recommended. ORLADEYO at a dose of 300 mg is a P-gp inhibitor. Appropriate monitoring and dose titration is recommended for P-gp substrates (eg, digoxin) when coadministering with ORLADEYO.

The safety and effectiveness of ORLADEYO in pediatric patients <12 years of age have not been established.

There are insufficient data available to inform drug-related risks with ORLADEYO use in pregnancy. There are no data on the presence of berotralstat in human milk, its effects on the breastfed infant, or its effects on milk production.

 

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals discovers novel, oral, small-molecule medicines that treat rare diseases in which significant unmet medical needs exist and an enzyme plays a key role in the biological pathway of the disease. Oral, once-daily ORLADEYO® (berotralstat) is approved in the United States, the European Union, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. BioCryst has several ongoing development programs including BCX9930, an oral Factor D inhibitor for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases, BCX9250, an ALK-2 inhibitor for the treatment of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, and galidesivir, a potential treatment for Marburg virus disease and Yellow Fever. RAPIVAB® (peramivir injection) has received regulatory approval in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. Post-marketing commitments for RAPIVAB are ongoing. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.biocryst.com.

 

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding BioCryst’s plans and expectations for ORLADEYO. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could affect the forward-looking statements contained herein include: the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which could create challenges in all aspects of BioCryst’s business, including without limitation delays, stoppages, difficulties and increased expenses with respect to BioCryst’s and its partners’ development, regulatory processes and supply chains, negatively impact BioCryst’s ability to access the capital or credit markets to finance its operations, or have the effect of heightening many of the risks described below or in the documents BioCryst periodically files with the Securities and Exchange Commission; BioCryst’s ability to successfully implement its commercialization plans for, and to commercialize, ORLADEYO, which could take longer or be more expensive than planned; the commercial viability of ORLADEYO, including its ability to achieve market acceptance; the results of our partnership with NewBridge may not meet our current expectations; the FDA, MOHAP or other applicable regulatory agency may require additional studies beyond the studies planned for products and product candidates, may not provide regulatory clearances which may result in delay of planned clinical trials, may impose certain restrictions, warnings, or other requirements on products and product candidates, may impose a clinical hold with respect to product candidates, or may withhold, delay, or withdraw market approval for products and product candidates; BioCryst’s ability to successfully manage its growth and compete effectively; risks related to the international expansion of BioCryst’s business; and actual financial results may not be consistent with expectations, including that revenue, operating expenses and cash usage may not be within management’s expected ranges.  Please refer to the documents BioCryst files periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically BioCryst’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, which identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in BioCryst’s forward-looking statements.