Biogen Idec announces FDA's acceptance of ELOCTATE BLA for treatment of hemophilia A

Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the company's Biologics License Application (BLA) for the marketing approval of ELOCTATE™ (recombinant factor VIII Fc fusion protein) for the treatment of hemophilia A. ELOCTATE is the first hemophilia A product candidate in a new class of long-lasting clotting factor therapies being developed with the goal of providing long-lasting protection and reducing the burden of treatment for patients with this chronic condition.

“ELOCTATE has the potential to improve adherence by reducing the number of intravenous injections needed to prevent bleeds, which is an important need for people with hemophilia A”

"ELOCTATE has the potential to improve adherence by reducing the number of intravenous injections needed to prevent bleeds, which is an important need for people with hemophilia A," said Glenn Pierce, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president of Global Medical Affairs and chief medical officer of Biogen Idec's hemophilia therapeutic area. "For those people currently on preventative—or prophylactic—treatment, ELOCTATE provides the potential to reduce the number of intravenous injections by 50 to 100 per year."

The ELOCTATE BLA was based on results from A-LONG, the largest registrational phase 3 clinical study in hemophilia A to date. In the A-LONG study, patients who injected ELOCTATE once-weekly to twice-weekly had low annualized bleeding rates. Prophylaxis in hemophilia A typically requires injections three times per week or every other day to maintain a sufficient circulating level of factor VIII, which prevents debilitating bleeding episodes.

With the FDA's acceptance of the ELOCTATE BLA, Biogen Idec now has product candidates for both hemophilia A and B under review with the agency. On March 4, 2013, the company announced that the FDA accepted for review the BLA for its factor IX candidate, ALPROLIX™ (recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein), for the treatment of hemophilia B. Both applications were granted standard review.