Everest Medicines Launches VELSIPITY® in Greater Bay Area for Moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis
Friday, October 25, 2024
Everest Medicines has announced that VELSIPITY® has been approved for treating moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) by the Guangdong Provincial Medical Products Administration.
VELSIPITY® (etrasimod) is a sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator, which selectively binds to S1P receptor subtypes 1, 4, and 5.
VELSIPITY®, an advanced oral treatment for patients aged 16 and older with moderately to severely active UC, was previously approved by Macau's Pharmaceutical Administration Bureau in April 2024.
VELSIPITY® is the first advanced oral treatment for UC approved for patients aged 16 and above in the EU.
The approval comes under the "Hong Kong and Macau Medicine and Equipment Connect" policy.
Initially, VELSIPITY® will be available at Foshan Fosun Chancheng Hospital and the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, both of which are designated medical institutions under the policy in the Greater Bay Area. The therapy will later be introduced to other qualified hospitals.
UC is a chronic, non-specific inflammatory condition with an increasing risk of disability and colorectal cancer as it progresses.
The prevalence of UC in China is projected to double by 2030, reaching approximately 1 million patients, underscoring the need for new therapeutic options.
This approval marks the third commercialised product for Everest Medicines, which acquired exclusive rights to develop and market VELSIPITY® in Greater China and South Korea in 2017.
The drug was developed by Arena Pharmaceuticals, a company acquired by Pfizer in 2022. VELSIPITY® has already been approved in the US, EU, Singapore, and Macau.
Everest Medicines plans to submit a new drug application for the therapy in mainland China by the end of 2024.
The drug has demonstrated positive results in clinical trials, including Phase 3 studies conducted across multiple Asian centres. These studies confirmed the drug's efficacy and safety profile, offering a convenient, once-daily treatment option for UC patients.
It has been approved for use in the treatment of UC in several regions, including the US, EU, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Macau.
Source: everestmedicines.com
