GlaxoSmithKline receives CHMP backing for Trobalt

GlaxoSmithKline's new drug Trobalt has been recommended for market approval by the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).

The treatment is being developed in collaboration between GlaxoSmithKline and Valeant Pharmaceuticals and is designed for use among epilepsy patients at risk of partial onset seizures.

This condition is a specific form of epilepsy that involves seizures beginning in a certain area on one side of the brain, with Trobalt designed to address the issue by acting as an adjunctive therapy among adult sufferers.

It has already been granted a preliminary regulatory approval by Swissmedic, Switzerland's agency for therapeutic products, in December 2010.

Last week saw GlaxoSmithKline begin a phase III clinical trial of GSK2402968, an investigational therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in association with partner Prosensa.

It also commenced a phase III study of a new intravenous specification of its influenza drug zanamivir, which has been marketed in an inhaled form since 1999.