La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved GiaprezaTM (angiotensin II) to increase blood pressure in adults with septic or other distributive shock.
“We appreciate FDA’s rapid review and approval of Giapreza and are especially grateful to the patients, families and dedicated critical care teams who made the development of Giapreza possible,” said George F. Tidmarsh, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of La Jolla. “We look forward to bringing this new treatment option to the many critically ill patients suffering from septic or other distributive shock.”
“Vasopressors are critical to treat patients with shock. The critical care community now has another tool to use,” said John A. Kellum, M.D., Director of Center for Critical Care Nephrology, Vice Chair for Research, and Professor of Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh. “The approval of angiotensin II represents a major advance in the treatment of patients with septic or distributive shock.”
La Jolla plans to make Giapreza available for patients in the U.S. in March 2018. Prescribing information for Giapreza is available at www.giapreza.com.
About Septic or Other Distributive Shock
Distributive shock is the most common type of shock in the inpatient setting, affecting approximately one-third of intensive care unit patients. There are approximately 800,000 distributive shock cases in the United States per year. Of these cases, an estimated 90% are septic shock patients. Approximately 300,000 do not achieve adequate blood pressure response with current standard therapy. The inability to achieve or maintain adequate blood pressure results in inadequate blood flow to the body’s organs and tissue and is associated with a mortality rate exceeding most acute conditions requiring hospitalization.
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
