Omeros Announces FDA Orphan Drug Designation for OMS824 for Huntington's Disease

Omeros Corporation OMER announced that OMS824, its phosphodiesterase 10 (PDE10) inhibitor, has received orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Huntington's disease. OMS824 selectively inhibits PDE10, an enzyme expressed in areas of the brain linked to a wide range of diseases that affect cognition, including Huntington's disease and schizophrenia. As previously reported, Phase 1 clinical results in healthy subjects demonstrated that OMS824 is well tolerated and suggest that it has a better clinical therapeutic index or "safety factor" than other PDE10 inhibitors in development. Omeros plans to begin a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating OMS824 in patients with Huntington's disease later this year. A Phase 2 clinical trial of the drug is already underway in patients with schizophrenia. Orphan designation by the FDA is granted to promote the development of drugs that target conditions affecting 200,000 or fewer U.S. patients annually and that are expected to provide significant therapeutic advantage over existing treatments. It qualifies a company for benefits that apply across all stages of drug development, including accelerated approval process, seven years of See full press release