Ferring publishes positive new Firmagon clinical data

Ferring has published new clinical data that demonstrates the long-term efficacy of its prostate cancer treatment Firmagon.

An ongoing five-year extension study is currently being conducted in order to collect data on the safety and tolerability of the drug among advanced hormone-dependent prostate cancer patients.

Thus far, it has been demonstrated that Firmagon has delivered improved levels of prostate-specific antigen control, both among patients who originally received the drug in the preceding phase III trial and those who had been administered with a leading alternative.

This data is intended to support the company's efforts to have the drug approved as a first-line androgen deprivation therapy.

Professor Laurent Boccon-Gibod, professor of urology at the Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Bichat in Paris, said: "This is further evidence of the benefits of starting and staying on Firmagon."

This comes after Firmagon was accepted for use among NHS patients in Scotland following a ruling by the Scottish Medicines Consortium in January 2011.