Thursday, March 23, 2023
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the approval of Evkeeza® (evinacumab-dgnb) as an adjunct to other lipid-lowering therapies to treat children aged 5 to 11 with homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HoFH). Evkeeza is the first angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3) inhibitor treatment indicated for children as young as 5 years old to control dangerously high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) caused by HoFH. Evkeeza was initially approved as an adjunct to other lipid-lowering therapies in those aged 12 years and older with HoFH in February 2021.
With this FDA approval, the HoFH community now has a much-needed treatment for young children, potentially making it possible for many to achieve recommended LDL-C levels much earlier in the course of this rare disease. This is a hopeful development for those living with HoFH. Since its initial approval, Evkeeza has become the standard of care for homozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia in patients 12 years of age or older.
With the addition of Evkeeza, children were able to reduce their LDL-C by 48% at week 24 on average, meeting the trial’s primary endpoint. Significant reductions were also observed in other key secondary endpoints including levels of apolipoprotein B (ApoB), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and total cholesterol.
Evkeeza is invented using Regeneron’s VelocImmune® technology and is a fully human monoclonal antibody that binds to and blocks the function of angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3), a protein that inhibits lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and endothelial lipase (EL) and regulates circulating lipids, including LDL-C.
