Tagraxofusp, sold under the brand name Elzonris, is an

anti-cancer medication Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard regimen. Chemotherapy may be given with a cu ...

for the treatment of

blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare hematologic malignancy. It was initially regarded as a form of lymphocyte-derived cutaneous lymphoma and alternatively named CD4+CD56+ hematodermic tumor, blastic NK cell lymphoma, an ...

(BPDCN). Tagraxofusp is a

fusion protein Fusion proteins or chimeric (kī-ˈmir-ik) proteins (literally, made of parts from different sources) are proteins created through the joining of two or more genes that originally coded for separate proteins. Translation of this '' fusion gene'' ...

consisting of

interleukin 3 Interleukin 3 (IL-3) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''IL3'' gene localized on chromosome 5q31.1. Sometimes also called colony-stimulating factor, multi-CSF, mast cell growth factor, MULTI-CSF, MCGF; MGC79398, MGC79399: after remo ...

(IL-3) fused to

diphtheria toxin Diphtheria toxin is an exotoxin secreted mainly by '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae'' but also by ''Corynebacterium ulcerans'' and '' Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis'', the pathogenic bacterium that causes diphtheria. The toxin gene is enco ...

. The fusion protein readily kills cultured pDC by binding to their IL-3 receptors to thereby gain entrance to the cells and then blocking these cells' protein synthesis (due to its diphtheria toxin portion inhibiting eukaryotic elongation factor 2). It was approved for use in the United States in 2018, and in the European Union in January 2021. The U.S.

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 respo ...

(FDA) considers it to be a

first-in-class medication A first-in-class medication is a prototype drug 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 medic ...

Society and culture

Legal status

In July 2020, the

European Medicines Agency The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of pharmaceutical products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products ...

(EMA) recommended the refusal of the marketing authorization for tagraxofusp. Text was copied from this source which is copyright European Medicines Agency. Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged. The Agency was concerned that due to the design of the study and the small number of participants, it was not possible to be sure how effective the medicine was in treating blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm. In addition, the medicine could cause capillary leak syndrome (an unpredictable, potentially life-threatening side effect due to increased permeability of small blood vessels), which had led to some fatal outcomes. In November 2020, the

Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), formerly known as the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP), is the European Medicines Agency's committee responsible for elaborating the agency's opinions on all issues regar ...

(CHMP) of the EMA adopted a positive opinion following a re-examination procedure, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for the medicinal product Elzonris, intended for the treatment of blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN). Tagraxofusp was approved for medical use in the European Union in January 2021.

References

External links

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