ARIAD Announces U.S. Food and Drug Administration Acceptance of NDA Filing for Brigatinib

On October 31, 2016 ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review the New Drug Application (NDA) for ARIAD’s investigational oral anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, brigatinib, in patients with metastatic ALK-positive (ALK+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have progressed on crizotinib (Press release, Ariad, OCT 31, 2016, View Source [SID1234516110]). The FDA granted ARIAD’s request for Priority Review and has set an action date of April 29, 2017 under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA).

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"The FDA acceptance of our application is an important milestone in our ongoing efforts to discover, develop and deliver highly innovative treatments for patients with rare cancers," said Paris Panayiotopoulos, president and chief executive officer of ARIAD. "We are pleased that our significant R&D investments in brigatinib and our work with the FDA are bringing us closer to potentially offering a treatment option for patients with ALK+ NSCLC who are refractory to crizotinib. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the FDA during the brigatinib NDA review and remain committed to developing critical therapies for unserved and underserved small patient populations suffering from rare cancers."

ARIAD’s NDA submission includes clinical data from its Phase 1/2 and pivotal Phase 2 ALTA trials of brigatinib. The FDA’s Priority Review status accelerates the review time from 10 months to a goal of six months from the filing of the application. Brigatinib received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA for the treatment of patients with ALK+ NSCLC whose tumors are resistant to crizotinib, and was granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for the treatment of ALK-positive, ROS1-positive, and EGFR-positive NSCLC. ARIAD plans to submit a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for brigatinib to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in early 2017.

ARIAD is a small, research-driven biotechnology company. ARIAD has invested more than $1.3 billion in R&D since the Company was founded. In 2015, ARIAD generated $119 million in total revenue and invested $171 million, or 143 percent of revenue, in R&D.

About Brigatinib

Brigatinib is an investigational, targeted cancer medicine discovered internally at ARIAD. It is in development for the treatment of patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive (ALK+) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The global Phase 2 ALTA trial, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic ALK+ NSCLC who were previously treated with crizotinib, is the primary basis for brigatinib’s initial regulatory review. ARIAD has also initiated the Phase 3 ALTA 1L trial to assess the efficacy and safety of brigatinib in comparison to crizotinib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic ALK+ NSCLC who have not received prior treatment with an ALK inhibitor. More information on brigatinib clinical trials, including the expanded access program (EAP) for ALK+ NSCLC can be found here.

About ALK+ NSCLC

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common form of lung cancer, accounting for approximately 85 percent of the estimated 228,190 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed each year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) was first identified as a chromosomal rearrangement in anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL). Genetic studies indicate that chromosomal rearrangements in ALK are key drivers in a subset of NSCLC patients as well. Approximately three to eight percent of patients with NSCLC have a rearrangement in the ALK gene.