Benzinga | May 20, 2021 04:32PM EDT

Larimar Therapeutics Receives European Medicines Agency Priority Medicines (PRIME) Designation For CTI-1601 In Friedreich's Ataxia

Larimar Therapeutics, Inc. ("Larimar") (NASDAQ:LRMR), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing treatments for Friedreich's ataxia (FA) and other complex rare diseases, today announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has granted Priority Medicines (PRIME) designation to CTI-1601 for the treatment of FA. CTI-1601 is a recombinant fusion protein intended to deliver human frataxin into the mitochondria of patients with FA who are unable to produce enough of this essential protein.



The PRIME designation was based on positive data from Larimar's nonclinical studies and Phase 1 clinical program in patients with FA. As announced last week, pharmacodynamic data from this program showed that daily subcutaneous injections of CTI-1601 at doses of 50 mg or 100 mg resulted in frataxin levels in peripheral tissues (buccal cells) that were at or in excess of those that would be expected in phenotypically normal heterozygous carriers. Safety data from the program indicated that repeated subcutaneous injections of CTI-1601 were generally well tolerated at doses up to 100 mg administered daily for 13 days.

"We are thrilled to receive this PRIME designation, which provides valuable regulatory benefits and important external validation for our Friedreich's ataxia program," said Carole Ben-Maimon, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Larimar. "Notably, we believe CTI-1601 is the only drug candidate to receive such a designation for the treatment of FA as well as the only clinical-stage candidate that we are aware of that is designed to address the root cause of the disease. We look forward to CTI-1601's continued clinical development and to the planned initiations of our Jive open label extension and pediatric multiple-ascending dose trials, which are expected in the second half of the year."

The PRIME program is designed to enhance support for the development of medicines that target an unmet medical need. Through PRIME, the EMA offers early and proactive support to medicine developers to optimize the generation of robust data on a medicine's benefits and risks and enable accelerated assessment of medicines applications so that these medicines can reach patients earlier. To receive a PRIME designation, a product candidate must show its potential to benefit patients with unmet medical needs based on early clinical data or on compelling non-clinical data and tolerability data from initial clinical trials. For more information on the PRIME program visit the EMA website.

In addition to PRIME designation, CTI-1601 has also been granted Rare Pediatric Disease designation, Fast Track designation and Orphan Drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Orphan Drug Designation by the European Commission.