VIVUS Receives Orphan Drug Designation in Europe

VIVUS (NASDAQ:VVUS) announced the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted an orphan drug designation for their lead candidate treating pulmonary arterial hypertension.
As quoted in the press release:

“Receiving Orphan Drug Designation from the EMA is an important milestone in our long-term development and commercialization strategy for tacrolimus,” said Seth H. Z. Fisher, VIVUS’ Chief Executive Officer. “There is an urgent need for new therapies that have the potential to address the underlying cause of PAH, and we are committed to advancing tacrolimus as a novel approach to treating this debilitating disease.”
Orphan Drug Designation is awarded for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition that is rare (affecting not more than five in 10,000 people in the European Union) or where the medicine is unlikely to generate sufficient profit to justify research and development costs.

Click here to read the full press release.

Source: www.marketwired.com