The FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 13-2 to recommend approval of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals’ cholesterol-lowering drug lomitapide for use in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH).
The lopsided vote does not completely reflect the views of many of the panel members, who expressed considerable concern that the drug might be used in lower risk populations, in particular, patients with heterozygous FH. The committee also expressed concern about the use of lomitapide in children with homozygous FH, since they were not included in clinical trials, but might be considered candidates for therapy in clinical practice.
Panel members appeared to largely agree with one panel member, who explained that his yes vote was “specific for this condition” (homozygous FH) only. He said he could accept the “trade-off between a near-certain early demise versus the possibility of liver disease.”
Aegerion estimates that there are about 6,000 homozygous FH patients in the US and Europe.
The committee expressed support for the FDA’s proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) that would limit access to the drug to medically appropriate patients and to provide education to prescribers about how to use lomitapide, how to prevent liver damage, and how to monitor patients during treatment. The REMS would require special certification for health care professionals and pharmacies that prescribe and dispense the drug.
On Thursday the same committee will meet to discuss a similar indication for Genzyme’s mipomersen injection. Following the release of a highly critical FDA review, many observers believe the mipomersen panel will be much more contentious.
Don’t you mean 600 hoFH patients in U.S. and Europe?
OK, I get it. They are using a definition of hoFH that includes some heterozygous FH patients. Their most recent 10-Q states:
“There is no patient registry or other method of establishing with precision the actual number of patients with HoFH in any geography. Medical literature has historically reported the prevalence rate of genotypic HoFH as one person in a million. However, we believe that many physicians use a broader definition of HoFH that includes patients diagnosed through phenotypic criteria. In 2010, we commissioned L.E.K. Consulting LLC, or LEK, to prepare a commercial assessment of the HoFH market for us. In its report, LEK estimated that the total number of patients likely to seek treatment with symptoms consistent with HoFH in each of the United States and, collectively Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain, which we refer to as the European Union Five, is approximately 3,000 patients, or a combined total of approximately 6,000 patients. LEK’s estimates, however, include severe HeFH patients whose levels of LDL-C are not controlled by current therapies.”