HGSI: This can perhaps be construed as good news for investors insofar as NVS/HGSI presumably won’t waste any more money on the Albuferon program. Albuferon wasn’t going to be a commercial success in any case.
Although the BLA with the FDA is still pending, I’m taking the liberty of moving Albuferon from paragraph #2 to paragraph #6 (back-burner programs) in the next revision of “HCV: Most Likely to Succeed.”
Here’s HGSI’s PR on the withdrawal of Joulferon/Zalbin MAA for archival purposes (and for the guy who posted the enlightening Housekeeping Note re Press Releases ;-))
Human Genome Sciences Announces Withdrawal of European Marketing Authorization Application For JOULFERON® (ZALBIN) For the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C
Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGSI) today announced that Novartis has withdrawn a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for approval to market JOULFERON® (albinterferon alfa-2b, known in the United States as ZALBIN™) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.
The decision to withdraw the application was based on feedback from European regulatory authorities in preliminary response to the EMA application, indicating that additional new data would be requested which could not reasonably be generated within the timeframe allowed in the European Centralized Procedure. Feedback included whether the therapeutic benefit offered by JOULFERON dosed once every two weeks is sufficient relative to risk.
ZALBIN (JOULFERON) is being developed by HGS and Novartis under an exclusive worldwide co-development and commercialization agreement entered into in 2006. In November 2009, HGS submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the FDA in the United States for ZALBIN dosed every two weeks, which continues under review. HGS and Novartis are also developing ZALBIN dosed every four weeks, and HGS previously reported the positive interim results of a Phase 2b study of this ZALBIN regimen.
About ZALBIN (albinterferon alfa-2b)
ZALBIN (also known as JOULFERON) is a genetic fusion of human albumin and interferon alfa created using proprietary HGS albumin-fusion technology. Human albumin is the most prevalent naturally occurring blood protein in the human circulatory system, persisting in circulation in the body for approximately 19 days. Research has shown that genetic fusion of therapeutic proteins to human albumin decreases clearance and prolongs the half-life of the therapeutic proteins.
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
