BioMarin Pharmaceutical announced the first participant has been dosed in a global Phase 2 study for vosoritide, an analog of C-type Natriuretic Peptide (CNP), in infants and young children with achondroplasia, the most common form of disproportionate short stature in humans.
"Vosoritide represents an innovative therapy to treat the underlying cause of achondroplasia. At the molecular level, vosoritide corrects the signaling process that determines skeletal growth and proportionality of bones, while the body is still growing," said Hank Fuchs, M.D., President, Worldwide Research and Development at BioMarin. "We are pleased to have initiated this study in the youngest people with achondroplasia and are grateful to the children and their families who have been participating in our ongoing studies and those who are now participating in this Phase 2 study."
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The Phase 2 study is a randomized, placebo-controlled study of vosoritide in approximately 70 infants and young children with achondroplasia ages zero to less than 60 months for 52 weeks. The study will be followed by a subsequent open-label extension. Children in this study will have completed a minimum three-month baseline study to determine their respective baseline growth prior to entering the Phase 2 study. The primary objectives of the study are to evaluate safety, tolerability, and the effect of vosoritide on height Z-scores, which is the number of standard deviations in relation to the mean height of age-matched, average stature children. The company also plans to augment the height Z-score data with assessments including proportionality, functionality, quality of life, sleep apnea, and foramen magnum dimension, as well as the advent of major illnesses and surgeries.
Vosoritide has been granted orphan drug designation in both the United States and Europe.