NEWTON, Mass. and GENEVA, July 28, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acer Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ACER) (Acer) and its collaboration partner, RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA (SIX: RLF, OTCQB: RLFTF, RLFTY) (Relief), today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review Acer’s resubmitted New Drug Application (NDA) for ACER-001 (sodium phenylbutyrate) for oral suspension for the treatment of patients with urea cycle disorders (UCDs). The FDA designated the NDA as a Class 2 resubmission and set a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of January 15, 2023.
“We are very pleased to receive confirmation that the FDA is commencing its review of our NDA resubmission,” said Chris Schelling, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Acer. “We have notified the FDA that our third-party contract packaging manufacturer is ready for inspection and are hopeful that the Agency’s review can be completed in a timely manner. While NDA approval is not assured, if approval is received, we are prepared to execute on our comprehensive launch plan and provide a new treatment option to underserved UCDs patients. These efforts reinforce our ongoing commitment to developing new and differentiated treatment options for those affected by rare diseases.”
In June 2022, as previously announced, the FDA issued Acer a Complete Response Letter (CRL) stating that satisfactory inspection of Acer’s third-party contract packaging manufacturer is required before the ACER-001 NDA may be approved. Acer notified the FDA in the NDA resubmission that the third-party contract packaging manufacturer is ready for inspection. The FDA did not cite any other approvability issues in the CRL pertaining to the NDA, nor request any additional clinical or pharmacokinetic studies be conducted prior to FDA action. Additional existing nonclinical information as requested by the FDA in the CRL but identified as “not an approvability issue”, as well as labeling and other required updates to the original NDA, were provided in the resubmission of the NDA.
There can be no assurance that ACER-001 will be approved for any indication.
About ACER-001
ACER-001 (sodium phenylbutyrate) is being developed for the treatment of various inborn errors of metabolism, including UCDs and Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD). ACER-001 is a nitrogen-binding agent in development for use as adjunctive therapy in the chronic management of patients with UCDs involving deficiencies of carbamylphosphate synthetase (CPS), ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC), or argininosuccinic acid synthetase (AS). ACER-001 is a polymer coated formulation that, when taken within 5 minutes, helps prevent the coating from dissolving. ACER-001 has been granted orphan drug designation by the FDA for MSUD. ACER-001 is an investigational product candidate which has not been approved by FDA, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or any other regulatory authority.
About Acer Therapeutics Inc.
Acer is a pharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of therapies for serious rare and life-threatening diseases with significant unmet medical needs. Acer’s pipeline includes four investigational programs: ACER-001 (sodium phenylbutyrate) for treatment of various inborn errors of metabolism, including urea cycle disorders (UCDs) and Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD); ACER-801 (osanetant) for treatment of induced Vasomotor Symptoms (iVMS); EDSIVO™ (celiprolol) for treatment of vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vEDS) in patients with a confirmed type III collagen (COL3A1) mutation; and ACER-2820 (emetine), a host-directed therapy against a variety of viruses, including cytomegalovirus, Zika, dengue, Ebola and COVID-19. For more information, visit www.acertx.com.
About RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA
Relief focuses primarily on clinical-stage programs based on molecules with a history of clinical testing and use in human patients or a strong scientific rationale. Relief has a Collaboration and License Agreement with Acer Therapeutics for the worldwide development and commercialization of ACER-001 (sodium phenylbutyrate) for the treatment of various inborn errors of metabolism, including UCDs and Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD). Relief also continues to study aviptadil for several possible lung related conditions. Finally, Relief's 2021 acquisitions of APR Applied Pharma Research SA and AdVita Lifescience GmbH brought to Relief a diverse pipeline of marketed and development-stage programs.
RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol RLF and quoted in the U.S. on OTCQB under the symbols RLFTF and RLFTY. For more information, visit www.relieftherapeutics.com Follow Relief on LinkedIn.