Leniolisib (INN), sold under the brand name Joenja, is a

medication A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

used for the treatment of activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome (APDS). It is a kinase inhibitor that is taken by mouth. The most common side effects include

headache Headache is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of depression in those with severe headaches. Headaches can occur as a result ...

, sinusitis, and

atopic dermatitis Atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as atopic eczema, is a long-term type of inflammation of the skin (dermatitis). It results in puritis, itchy, red, swollen, and cracked skin. Clear fluid may come from the affected areas, which often thickens o ...

. Leniolisib was approved for medical use in the United States in March 2023. It is the first approved medication for the treatment of activated PI3K delta syndrome. The US

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

(FDA) considers it to be a

first-in-class medication A first-in-class medication is a pharmaceutical that uses a "new and unique mechanism of action" to treat a particular medical condition. While the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research tracks first-in-class medicat ...

Medical uses

Leniolisib is

indicated In medicine, an indication is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. There can be multiple indications to use a procedure or medication. An indication can commonly be confused with the term diagnosis. A diagnosis ...

for the treatment of activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome (activated PI3K delta syndrome) in people twelve years of age and older. Activated PI3K delta syndrome is caused by mutations in either of two genes, PIK3CD or PIK3R1, that regulate the maturation of white blood cells, especially

B cell B cells, also known as B lymphocytes, are a type of white blood cell of the lymphocyte subtype. They function in the humoral immunity component of the adaptive immune system. B cells produce antibody molecules which may be either secreted or ...

s and

T cell A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell r ...

s. This leads to a decrease in immune cells, which makes it difficult for people with activated PI3K delta syndrome to fight off bacterial and viral infections.

Mechanism of action

Leniolisib is a selective

phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor Phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors (PI3K inhibitors) are a class of medical drugs that are mainly used to treat advanced cancers. They function by inhibiting one or more of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) enzymes, which are part of the PI3 ...

(PI3Kδ inhibitor), which means it blocks a form of the protein called phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta (PI3Kδ) that is overactive in activated PI3K delta syndrome. By inhibiting PI3Kδ, leniolisib helps normalize immune function as measured by a significant increase in number of immune response generating B cells and reduction in size of lymph nodes.

Adverse effects

The most common encountered adverse effects were headache, sinusitis, and atopic dermatitis.

History

Leniolisib was developed by

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

and subsequently licensed to Pharming Group, a Dutch

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

company, in 2019. The US

(FDA) evaluated the efficacy of leniolisib in the placebo-controlled portion of Study 2201 (NCT02435173), a twelve‑week blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study of 31 participants twelve years of age and older with confirmed APDS-associated genetic PI3Kδ mutation, with a documented variant in either PIK3CD or PIK3R1. The FDA granted the application for leniolisib

orphan drug An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent developed to treat medical conditions which, because they are so rare, would not be profitable to produce without government assistance. The conditions are referred to as orphan diseases. The assignment of ...

, priority review, and rare pediatric disease designations.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Antineoplastic drugs Drugs developed by Novartis Orphan drugs Phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitors