Acorda Therapeutics receives marketing approval from FDA for AMPYRA

Jan 22 2010

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOR) today announced that it has received marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for AMPYRA™ (dalfampridine), an oral treatment to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). This was demonstrated by an increase in walking speed. AMPYRA demonstrated efficacy in people with all four major types of MS (relapsing remitting, secondary progressive, progressive relapsing and primary progressive). AMPYRA can be used alone or with existing MS therapies, including immunomodulator drugs.

“The approval is the culmination of an enormous amount of work and effort over many years and is the second product in which we have collaborated with Acorda. We hope to find additional opportunities to work together in the future.”

“The approval of AMPYRA marks an important milestone for the many people with MS who suffer walking impairment. Difficulty walking is often cited by those with MS as one of the most pervasive and challenging aspects of their disease,” said Ron Cohen, M.D., President and CEO of Acorda Therapeutics, adding: “We are enormously gratified to have achieved approval for the only medication indicated to improve walking in people with MS, and we thank all of the clinicians, people living with MS and medical and patient support organizations who joined in this effort over the past decade. Reaching this milestone underscores Acorda’s ongoing commitment to develop innovative therapies for people with neurological diseases.”

“Walking impairment affects a large majority of people with MS, and we are very pleased that the FDA has approved a new treatment that addresses this aspect of the disease,” said John Richert, M.D., Executive Vice President for Research & Clinical Programs at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “Continuing to advance clinical research and expand the range of therapeutic options for people with MS, including treatments for the most debilitating symptoms and challenges associated with the disease, is critical to helping people with MS.”

AMPYRA, which was previously referred to as Fampridine-SR, is an extended release tablet formulation of dalfampridine (4-aminopyridine, 4-AP), which was previously called fampridine. The FDA granted AMPYRA orphan drug status, which will provide seven years of market exclusivity for the drug. In addition, Acorda has several issued patents that cover the formulation and use of AMPYRA.

AMPYRA is administered as a 10 mg tablet twice daily, approximately 12 hours apart. The primary measure of efficacy in its two Phase 3 MS trials was walking speed (in feet per second) as measured by the Timed 25-foot Walk (T25FW), using a responder analysis. A responder was defined as a patient who showed faster walking speed for at least three visits out of a possible four during the double-blind period than the maximum speed achieved in the five non-double-blind, no treatment visits (four before the double-blind period and one after).

A significantly greater proportion of patients taking AMPYRA 10 mg twice daily were responders compared to patients taking placebo, as measured by the T25FW (Trial 1: 34.8% vs. 8.3%; Trial 2: 42.9% vs. 9.3%). The increased response rate in the AMPYRA group was observed across all four major types of MS.

During the double-blind treatment period, a significantly greater proportion of patients taking AMPYRA 10 mg twice daily had increases in walking speed of at least 10%, 20%, or 30% from baseline, compared to placebo. In both trials, the consistent improvements in walking speed were shown to be associated with improvements on a patient self-assessment of ambulatory disability, the 12-item Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale (MSWS-12), for both drug and placebo treated patients. However, a drug-placebo difference was not established for that outcome measure.

“Walking impairment makes life more difficult for many of my patients,” said Dr. Andrew Goodman, M.D., Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at the University of Rochester. “With the approval of AMPYRA, we will have the first treatment option shown to improve walking speed in people with MS.”

Acorda expects AMPYRA to be commercially available in the United States in March 2010. AMPYRA will be distributed exclusively through a network of specialty pharmacies and coordinated by AMPYRA Patient Support Services. Dedicated and experienced customer care agents will be available to help healthcare professionals process prescriptions, work with insurance carriers to facilitate coverage, and help patients to access benefits available through reimbursement assistance and patient assistance programs.

AMPYRA Patient Support Services can be reached at 888-881-1918 for more information about AMPYRA.

The FDA approved AMPYRA with a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) program comprising a medication guide and communication plan. The goals of the communication plan are to inform patients about the serious risks, including seizures, associated with use of higher than recommended doses of AMPYRA therapy, and the change of the established name from fampridine to dalfampridine.

AMPYRA will be marketed in the United States by Acorda’s established commercial organization, which successfully launched ZANAFLEX CAPSULES® (tizanidine hydrochloride). The Company plans to double the number of field- based sales professionals to approximately 100 by the time of commercial availability in March.

Under Acorda’s existing license and supply agreement with Elan Pharma International Limited, a subsidiary of Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN), AMPYRA will be manufactured by Elan Drug Technologies using one of their Oral Controlled Release Technologies, the MXDAS™ (MatriX Drug Absorption System) technology.

“We are delighted that AMPRYA will now be available to help people with MS. This approval represents another significant milestone in our successful collaboration with Acorda Therapeutics,” announced Shane Cooke, Executive Vice President and Head of Elan Drug Technologies. “The approval is the culmination of an enormous amount of work and effort over many years and is the second product in which we have collaborated with Acorda. We hope to find additional opportunities to work together in the future.”