Skip to main content
Log in

Danicopan: First Approval

  • AdisInsight Report
  • Published:
Drugs Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Danicopan (Voydeya®) is an oral complement factor D inhibitor that is being developed by Alexion AstraZeneca Rare Disease as add-on treatment to ravulizumab or eculizumab for patients with clinically significant extravascular haemolysis. Danicopan recently received approval in Japan for the treatment of adults with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH) when used in addition to a complement component 5 (C5) inhibitor. Subsequently, the European Medicines Agency adopted a positive opinion recommending the granting of marketing authorisation for danicopan for the treatment of patients with PNH who continue to have residual haemolytic anaemia despite treatment with a complement C5 inhibitor. This article summarizes the milestones in the development of danicopan leading to this first approval for PNH.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alexion Pharma LLC. Voydeya (Danicopan) 50mg: Japanese prescribing information. 2024. https://www.info.pmda.go.jp. Accessed 8 Mar 2024.

  2. Kulasekararaj AG, Lazana I. Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria: where are we going. Am J Hematol. 2023;98(Suppl. 4):S33–43.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. AstraZeneca. Voydeya (danicopan) granted first-ever regulatory approval in Japan for adults with PNH to be used in combination with C5 inhibitor therapy [media release]. 19 Jan 2024. https://www.astrazeneca.com.

  4. Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency. Danicopan. 2024. https://www.pmda.go.jp/PmdaSearch/iyakuDetail/GeneralList/39990E6. Accessed 8 Mar 2024.

  5. European Medicines Agency. First oral treatment against residual haemolytic anaemia in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria. 2024. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/first-oral-treatment-against-residual-haemolytic-anaemia-patients-paroxysmal-nocturnal-haemoglobinuria. Accessed 8 Mar 2024.

  6. Alexion AstraZeneca Rare Disease. Pipeline. 2024. https://alexion.com/our-research/pipeline. Accessed 8 Mar 2024.

  7. Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Alexion completes acquisition of Achillion [media release]. 29 Jan 2020. http://www.alexion.com.

  8. AstraZeneca. Acquisition of Alexion completed [media release]. 21 July 2021. http://www.astrazeneca.com.

  9. Alexion AstraZeneca Rare Disease. Danicopan (ALXN2040) add-on to ULTOMIRIS(Rm) (ravulizumab-cwvz) or SOLIRIS(Rm) (eculizumab) met primary endpoint in ALPHA phase III trial for patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria who experience clinically significant extravascular hemolysis [media release]. 16 Sep 2022. http://www.alexion.com.

  10. Achillion Pharmaceuticals. USPTO grants composition of matter patent to Achillion for small molecule complement alternative pathway factor D inhibitors [media release]. 22 Mar 2017. http://www.achillion.com. Accessed 22 Mar 2017.

  11. Achillion Pharmaceuticals. USPTO grants composition of matter patent to Achillion for ACH-4471, first-in-class small molecule complement alternative pathway factor D inhibitor [media release]. 25 Oct 2017. http://www.achillion.com.

  12. Risitano AM, Kulasekararaj AG, Lee JW, et al. Danicopan: an oral complement factor D inhibitor for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Haematologica. 2021;106(12):3188–97.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Ellis-Pegler RB, Schwabe C, Ajari I, et al. An orally administered small molecule factor d inhibitor (ACH-4471) for treatment of PNH and complement diseases: preliminary phase 1 results in healthy volunteers. Haematologica. 2016;101:416.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Lee JW, Griffin M, Kim JS, et al. Addition of danicopan to ravulizumab or eculizumab in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria and clinically significant extravascular haemolysis (ALPHA): a double-blind, randomised, phase 3 trial. Lancet Haematol. 2023;10(12):e955–65.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Kulasekararaj A, Griffin M, Piatek CI, et al. Danicopan as add-on therapy to ravulizumab or eculizumab versus placebo in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria and clinically significant extravascular hemolysis: phase 3 long-term data. Blood. 2023;142(Suppl. 1):576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kulasekararaj AG, Risitano AM, Maciejewski JP, et al. Phase 2 study of danicopan in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria with an inadequate response to eculizumab. Blood. 2021;138(20):1928–38.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Nester C, Appel GB, Bomback AS, et al. Clinical outcomes of patients with C3G or IC-MPGN treated with the factor D inhibitor danicopan: final results from two phase 2 studies. Am J Nephrol. 2022;53(10):687–700.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Connie Kang.

Ethics declarations

Funding

The preparation of this review was not supported by any external funding.

Authorship and Conflict of interest

During the peer review process the manufacturer of the agent under review was offered an opportunity to comment on the article. Changes resulting from any comments received were made by the authors on the basis of scientific completeness and accuracy. Connie Kang is a salaried employee of Adis International Ltd/Springer Nature, and declares no relevant conflicts of interest. All authors contributed to this article and are responsible for its content.

Ethics approval, Consent to participate, Consent to publish, Availability of data and material, Code availability

Not applicable.

Additional information

This profile has been extracted and modified from the AdisInsight database. AdisInsight tracks drug development worldwide through the entire development process, from discovery, through pre-clinical and clinical studies to market launch and beyond.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (PDF 180 kb)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kang, C. Danicopan: First Approval. Drugs (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-024-02023-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40265-024-02023-6

Navigation