Grifols receives FDA approval for Alphanate to treat vCJD

Grifols, a global healthcare company and biopharmaceutical manufacturer based in Barcelona, Spain today announced that it received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for revised labeling for Alphanate® Antihemophilic Factor/von Willebrand Factor Complex (Human) indicating that certain manufacturing steps have been shown to reduce the infectivity of a experimental TSE agent that is a model for variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (vCJD).  The labeling revisions stem from extensive Grifols research into the capacity for various manufacturing steps to eliminate a TSE experimental model agent.  Data supporting the revised labeling was the result of work done in Grifols' research and development laboratories and was published in 2009 in the peer-reviewed journal Haemophilia, the official journal of the World Federation of Hemophilia.

"This is the result of years of research, significant investment, and most importantly the dedication of many Grifols scientists," said Juan Ignacio Jorquera, Ph.D., the Director of Research and Development at Grifols.  "The potential of vCJD transmission by blood or blood products has been an area of substantial inquiry among global health authorities for more than a decade and we are proud to reach this important milestone," continued Dr. Jorquera. Alphanate® is the first plasma-derived blood clotting factor product to receive FDA-approved revised labeling that recognizes that manufacturing steps adopted by the company "provide reasonable assurance that low levels of CJD/vCJD agent infectivity, if present in the starting material, would be removed."  

"Because of our history, the bleeding disorders community has a responsibility to be informed and vigilant about the safety of the medicines we take," said Val Bias, CEO of the National Hemophilia Foundation. "It is encouraging to know that Grifols shares this responsibility with the community and is actively engaged in demonstrating the safety of their products," continued Mr. Bias.

In 2007 Alphanate® became the first dual virus inactivated (heat treatment and solvent detergent) and affinity chromatography purified clotting factor complex approved for the treatment of von Willebrand Disease (VWD) and hemophilia A. Some of the same manufacturing processes that are proven effective at eliminating viruses also have demonstrated the ability to remove the CJD/vCJD experimental agent. Specific manufacturing steps with infectivity reduction capacity include polyethylene glycol precipitation, affinity chromatography and saline precipitation.

Grifols' research used two different experimental agent preparations as well as Western blot and bioassay detection methods.  Validated scale models of the production steps for both Alphanate® and Grifols' Fanhdi® (FVIII/VWF complex product marketed outside the United States) were used in the studies. The combined effect of the production steps provided an imputed reduction capacity of 8 log₁₀ of the experimental CJD/vCJD agent.