Novo Nordisk given positive feedback on new therapy

Novo Nordisk has received positive feedback from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) on its recombinant factor XIII product (rFXIII).

The treatment could be used for once-monthly replacement therapy for patients over the age of six with congenital factor XIII A-subunit deficiency.

This rare bleeding disorder is potentially fatal and afflicts around 900 people across the globe on an annual basis, affecting men and women equally.

Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice-president and chief science officer at Novo Nordisk, said the project "demonstrates our commitment to developing a broad and innovative pipeline of molecules to fulfil unmet medical needs within haemophilia and rare bleeding disorders".

The new treatment is the first genetically engineered pro-enzyme dimer that is identical in structure and function to the human FXIII-A subunit.

This comes after the Novo Nordisk Foundation announced that the current chairman of the board of Novo Nordisk A/S, Sten Scheibye, has been appointed to the foundation's board with the aim of becoming president in 2013.