BioMarin's BMN-701 receives FDA orphan drug designation for treatment of Pompe disease

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRN) announced today that it has received orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for BMN-701, a novel fusion of insulin-like growth factor 2 and alpha glucosidase (IGF2-GAA) in development for the treatment of Pompe disease.  An investigational new drug application (IND) for BMN-701 has been submitted, investigational material has been manufactured and a Phase I/II study is expected to start in the first quarter of 2011.

"Receiving orphan drug designation from the FDA for BMN-701 is a significant milestone for our Pompe program.  As part of their assessment for designation, the FDA determined that BMN-701 is sufficiently different from alglusidase alfa (Myozyme/Lumizyme) to allow for a unique orphan designation.  For this reason, clinical superiority over alglusidase alfa will not be necessary to secure orphan exclusivity for BMN-701," said Jean-Jacques Bienaime, Chief Executive Officer of BioMarin.  "This emphasizes our mission of developing innovative, products for orphan diseases with an unmet medical need.  We believe BMN-701 has the potential to possibly deliver more enzyme to lysosomes compared to traditional mannose-6-phosphate targeted approaches using the recently acquired GILT technology."