Boehringer Ingelheim’s new IPF therapy recommended for EU approval

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended its new idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) therapy for approval.

The drug nintedanib has been shown in clinical trials to significantly slow disease progression in a broad range of patients with IPF. This positive clinical profile led to its recent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Data from the phase III Inpulsis trial associated the therapy with a 50 percent reduction in the decline of lung function, as well as a 68 percent reduction in the risk of adjudicated acute exacerbations.

If it receives final approval from the European Commission, it will be sold in Europe under the brand name Ofev.

Professor Klaus Dugi, chief medical officer at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: "There has been a high unmet need for effective treatments that can slow disease progression in IPF. We look forward to making nintedanib available soon to patients with IPF in the EU."

This comes after the firm's novel oral anticoagulant Pradaxa received a new recommendation from the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, allowing it to be used for treating and preventing recurrent and potentially fatal blood clots in the legs and lungs.