27 May 2016 | News | By BioSpectrum Bureau
Eisai to launch in-house developed antiepileptic drug Fycompa in Japan
Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co Ltd has decided to launch its in-house-discovered antiepileptic drug (AED) Fycompa Tablets 2 mg and 4 mg (perampanel hydrate) as an adjunctive therapy for partial-onset seizures (including secondarily generalized seizures) or primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures in patients with epilepsy showing inadequate response to other AEDs in Japan on May 26, 2016.
Eisai received marketing and manufacturing approval for this formulation on March 28, 2016, and the product has been added to Japan's National Health Insurance drug price list as of today.
Discovered at Eisai's Tsukuba Research Laboratories and developed in-house, Fycompa is a first-in-class AED, available in tablet form as a once-daily oral dose. It is a highly selective, noncompetitive AMPA receptor antagonist that reduces neuronal hyperexcitation associated with seizures by targeting glutamate activity at postsynaptic AMPA receptors.
Fycompa is currently approved in more than 45 countries and territories, including Europe and the United States, as an adjunctive treatment of partial-onset seizures (with or without secondarily generalized seizures) in adult and adolescent patients with epilepsy 12 years of age and older. Fycompa has been also been approved in more than 35 countries, including Europe and the United States, for the adjunctive therapy of PGTC seizures in patients with epilepsy 12 years of age and older.
Eisai considers neurology a therapeutic area of focus, and by providing Fycompa as a new treatment option in Japan in addition to the AEDs Inovelon and Fostoin as part of an extensive epilepsy product portfolio, Eisai seeks to make continued contributions to address the diverse needs of, as well as increasing the benefits provided to, patients with epilepsy and their families.