Eli Lilly cancer drug awarded orphan drug status

Eli Lilly has announced that enzastaurin has been granted orphan drug status by the European Medicines Agency as a treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).

The compound is currently undergoing a phase III clinical trial as a maintenance therapy to prevent patients from relapsing.

Lilly reports that around half of high-risk patients with DLBCL, the most common form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, relapse within three years of receiving first-line treatment for the disease.

Enzastaurin is an orally-administered serine threonin kinase inhibitor that suppresses the proliferation of tumour cells, inhibits tumour-induced angiogenesis and induces tumour death through targeting and blocking the PKCBeta and PI3/AKT signalling pathways.

Richard Gaynor, vice-president of cancer research and the global oncology platform leader for Eli Lilly, said: “In recent years, there has been progress in improving first-line therapies that help more patients achieve remission.”

He added that the company’s aim with enzastaurin is to enable patients with DLBCL that have reached this status to remain in remission.

Following an interim analysis of data from a phase III clinical trial evaluating the administration of enzastaurin in patients with recurrent and aggressive brain cancer, Lilly announced last December that it was to close enrolment in the trial, with it being suggested the compound would fail to meet its primary endpoint.