Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutically-produced transdermal cannabinoid treatments, announced positive top line results from an open label exploratory Phase 2 FAB-C (Treatment of Fragile X Syndrome Anxiety and Behavioral Challenges with CBD) clinical trial evaluating ZYN002 cannabidiol (CBD) gel in pediatric and adolescent patients with Fragile X syndrome (FXS). The study successfully met its primary endpoint, achieving a 46% improvement (p<0.0001) in the total score of Anxiety, Depression, and Mood Scale (ADAMS) at week twelve compared to baseline. ZYN002 also achieved clinically meaningful improvements in all measures of the Aberrant Behavior Checklist for Fragile X (ABC-FXS), which address the key symptoms of FXS including social avoidance, temper tantrums, repetitive movements, and hyperactivity.
“The data from the FAB-C trial are very exciting and demonstrate that ZYN002 may have a profound effect on improving many of the most disabling symptoms of Fragile X, such as anxiety and difficult behaviors,” said Steven Siegel, MD, PhD Professor and Chair, Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC. “Fragile X is a challenging genetic autism spectrum disorder, with complex symptomatology that significantly impacts patients and their families. Many children with Fragile X and their families struggle with the lack of approved drugs to safely treat their symptoms. This study suggests that ZYN002 is ready for the next phase of development, and I believe that this drug holds great promise as a potential treatment for these very difficult-to-treat symptoms.”
With these data, Zynerba anticipates that it will meet with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first half of 2018 with the goal of moving quickly into a pivotal Phase 2/3 program in pediatric and adolescent patients with FXS in 2018. The FDA has granted Zynerba Orphan Drug designation for the use of CBD as treatment of patients with FXS. Orphan Drug designation is granted to novel drugs that treat a rare disease or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 patients in the U.S., and provides benefits including a seven-year period of U.S. marketing exclusivity upon marketing approval for the designated indication and may provide a rapid path to market authorization.
“We are thrilled with the positive clinical results of ZYN002 in the FAB-C trial; it is a major step forward for the hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide with Fragile X who currently have no approved therapeutic options to treat their symptoms,” said Armando Anido, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zynerba. “The clinically meaningful improvements in Fragile X symptoms and the excellent tolerability seen in the FAB-C trial are compelling. These data will allow us to discuss the pathway to approval in a meeting with the FDA, which we expect to take place during the first half of 2018. I want to thank the patients, families, physicians, study coordinators, and the Zynerba team for their support of this important study.”
“The symptoms of Fragile X can be overwhelming to a patient and caregiver, so I’m very enthusiastic about the responses to ZYN002 that we saw during this study,” said Honey Heussler, FRACP, Associate Professor at Children’s Health Queensland, Medical Director Child Development and lead investigator in the FAB-C study. “These data are extremely promising, particularly the improvements in anxiety, social avoidance, and irritability as measured by scales including ADAMS, ABC-FXS, and PARS-R. Tolerability is essential in these patients, so I’m very pleased to see that ZYN002 was well tolerated in Fragile X patients.”
Filed Under: Drug Discovery