Full Press Release Details
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. , Feb. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTCT ) today announced that the company has had multiple discussions with the German Federal Association of the Statutory Health Insurances (GKV-SV) over the last several months to come to agreement on pricing and reimbursement. Recently, these discussions transitioned into an arbitration process, which did not lead to an acceptable agreement. As a result, PTC is considering delisting Translarna from the German pharmacy ordering system. Under these circumstances, patients and healthcare professionals may be able to access Translarna through a reimbursed importation pathway possible under German law, thus minimizing any access issues for German patients while maintaining a sustainable price.
Translarna received marketing authorization in the European Economic Area (EEA) in August 2014 as the only treatment for the underlying cause of nmDMD, an ultra-rare progressive and irreversible muscle wasting disorder affecting boys and young men. Translarna has been commercially available in Germany since December 1, 2014 , and is currently available on a commercial basis to patients in 23 countries.
About Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Primarily affecting males, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a progressive muscle disorder caused by the lack of functional dystrophin protein. Dystrophin is critical to the structural stability of skeletal, diaphragm, and heart muscles. Patients with DMD lose the ability to walk as early as age 10 and experience life-threatening lung and heart complications in their late teens and twenties. It is estimated that nonsense mutations account for approximately 13% of DMD cases.
About Translarna™ (ataluren)
Translarna, discovered and developed by PTC Therapeutics, Inc., is a protein restoration therapy designed to enable the formation of a functioning protein in patients with genetic disorders caused by a nonsense mutation. A nonsense mutation is an alteration in the genetic code that prematurely halts the synthesis of an essential protein. The resulting disorder is determined by which protein cannot be expressed in its entirety and is no longer functional, such as dystrophin in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Translarna is licensed in the European Economic Area for the treatment of nonsense mutation Duchenne muscular dystrophy in ambulatory patients aged five years and older. Translarna is an investigational new drug in the United States . The development of Translarna has been supported by grants from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc. (the nonprofit affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation); Muscular Dystrophy Association; FDA's Office of Orphan Products Development; National Center for Research Resources; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy.
About PTC Therapeutics, Inc. PTC is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of orally administered, proprietary small molecule drugs targeting an area of RNA biology we refer to as post-transcriptional control. Post-transcriptional control processes are the regulatory events that occur in cells during and after a messenger RNA, or mRNA, molecule is copied from DNA through the transcription process. PTC's internally discovered pipeline addresses multiple therapeutic areas, including rare disorders, oncology and infectious diseases. PTC has discovered all of its compounds currently under development using its proprietary technologies. PTC plans to continue to develop these compounds both on its own and through selective collaboration arrangements with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. For more information on the company, please visit our website www.ptcbio.com
For More Information:
Investors: Emily Hill +1 (908) 912-9327 [email protected]
Media: Justine O'Malley +1 (908) 912-9551 [email protected]
Forward-looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than those of historical fact, contained in this release are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the future expectations, plans and prospects for PTC; the clinical utility and potential advantages of Translarna; the timing and scope of PTC's commercial and early access program launches; the rate and degree of market acceptance of Translarna; PTC's estimates regarding the potential market opportunity for Translarna, including the size of eligible patient populations and PTC's ability to identify such patients; PTC's strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues or projected costs; and the objectives of management. Other forward-looking statements may be identified by the words "plan," "guidance," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "predict," "project," "target," "potential," "will," "would," "could," "should," "continue," and similar expressions.
The forward-looking statements contained herein represent PTC's views only as of the date of this press release and PTC does not undertake or plan to update or revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in plans, prospects, assumptions, estimates or projections, or other circumstances occurring after the date of this release except as required by law.
SOURCE PTC Therapeutics, Inc.