OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc. ("Tetra" or the "Company") (TSX: TBP) (OTCQB: TBPMF) (FRA: JAM1), a leader in cannabinoid-derived drug discovery and development today announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) issued a positive opinion on the Company's application for Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for its investigational medicine QIXLEEF™ as a potential treatment for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a chronic neuropathic pain condition.
Dr. Guy Chamberland, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Regulatory Officer of Tetra Bio-Pharma said "the positive opinion issued by the COMP is excellent news as Tetra continues to execute its regulatory strategy in Europe. An ODD brings several unique advantages, from a cost reduction in drug development, to an accelerated review process and market exclusivity for 10 years. Such strategy is cost and time effective and allows the Company to easily gain market shares in a competitive free environment. If granted, this would represent QIXLEEF™'s second ODD as a potential treatment for CRPS, in addition to the ODD granted by the U.S. FDA in March 2018. We firmly believe that QIXLEEF™ will be a safe and effective medicine for pain management and an alternative to opioids."
The positive opinion issued by the COMP will be sent to the European Commission, which is expected to grant the orphan designation within 30 days. The Committee based its opinion on Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 141/2000 of 16 December 1999. The COMP based on majority of 30 out of 31 votes concluded that QIXLEEF™ satisfies the criteria for such designation and recommends the granting of orphan medicinal product designation.
The COMP determined that QIXLEEF™ qualifies as an orphan drug for CRPS indication as 1) the medicinal product is intended to treat a chronic debilitating condition, 2) the estimated prevalence of this rare condition is 4.4 in 10,000 persons in the European Union, and 3) available data from published literature shows improvement in peripheral neuropathic pain in patients treated with cannabinoid-based medicinal products.
The EMA grants orphan drug designation to encourage the development of drugs intended to treat rare and life-threatening diseases and therefore provides incentives to sponsors, such as protocol assistance, a specific type of Scientific Advice that allows the Agency to address sponsors' questions pertaining to clinical trials. Moreover, since QIXLEEF™ will be intended to treat an orphan condition, clinical studies will be preformed with a significantly smaller number of patients and could be entitled to conditional approval through a decentralized procedure resulting in a single decision from the European Commission, valid in all EU Member States, which would shorten the time to market approval. Furthermore, once approved the drug will be eligible to 10 years of market exclusivity. Tetra Bio-Pharma would also benefit from reduced regulatory fees and administrative and procedural assistance.