SIFI Receives European Commission Approval for Akantior
SIFI announced the European Commission has approved Akantior (polihexanide) for the treatment of acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) in adults and children from 12 years of age. Akantior is the first and only approved therapy for people suffering from AK in Europe.
AK is an ultra-rare, severe, progressive and sight threatening corneal infection characterized by intense pain and photophobia. It is caused by a free-living amoeba, acanthamoeba, and primarily affects contact lens wearers.
“Today's approval represents an important step towards delivering a new global standard of care for patients with AK and builds on 15 years of research and development,” Fabrizio Chines, Chairman and CEO of SIFI, said in a company news release. “For the first time in Europe, AK patients have an approved therapy, marking a new era in the treatment of this disease, which may lead to blindness. Akantior is the first and only approved medicine for AK, and our team is committed to developing polihexanide in other corneal infectious diseases, such as fungal keratitis, where we obtained orphan drug designation from the EMA and the FDA.”
"Akantior, when used as monotherapy with the trial's treatment protocol, achieves medical cure rates of over 86% and is set to become the standard of care for this severe and debilitating disease," said Professor John Dart, of Moorfields Eye Hospital and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, who was Principal Investigator of the Phase 3 ODAK trial. “After 15 years of research and effort development by SIFI, culminating in the pivotal phase 3 clinical trial, polihexanide 0.08% has now been approved by the European Medicines Agency and European Commission as the first licensed treatment for acanthamoeba keratitis. This breakthrough offers significant improvement over current treatment options and has the potential to prevent blindness and save eyes. As the only approved therapy, it has been recommended for use with the detailed treatment delivery protocol used in the phase 3 trial, which eliminates the need for the variable individualized treatment delivery currently used for patients, providing an effective standardized approach that can be followed by any clinician and which has been shown to be effective, not only in the trial, but also in the current compassionate use program outside the more stringent trial setting.”
In Europe, SIFI plans to initiate its first commercial launch in Germany during the last quarter this year, followed by additional markets based on local regulatory, healthcare technology assessment and reimbursement process timelines, including France, Italy, Romania, Spain, United Kingdom and Turkey addressing a total population of 430 million, and by Avanzanite, its commercial partner, in other European Countries addressing an additional population of 180 million. Based on scientific publications, the incidence of acanthamoeba keratitis is estimated at 1 to 4 patients per million inhabitants.