Formycon Releases Updates on Development Programs and Milestones

Munich – Today Formycon AG (ISIN: DE000A1EWVY8/ WKN: A1EWVY) published an update on development programs and key Milestones.

For FYB201, new data from the recently completed COLUMBUS-AMD phase III trial in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) are available. The last patient in the trial, in which patients were investigated for a total of 48 weeks, has completed the study on June 06, 2018. In addition to the achievement of the primary efficacy endpoint reported in May 2018, the study showed comparable results with regard to efficacy, safety and immunogenicity between the investigational medicinal product FYB201 and the reference medicinal product Lucentis®* (ranibizumab). The final study report will be available in December 2018.

Formycon’s partner Bioeq IP AG, who is responsible for the COLUMBUS-AMD study and holds the exclusive global marketing rights for the product FYB201, has filed a request for a Type IV pre-submission meeting with the US Food and Drug Administration FDA to be held in December 2018. In addition to the data package for the technical and clinical development, the implementation of the commercial supply chain will be discussed. The filing of the Biologics License Application (BLA) under the 351 (k) pathway to the FDA is planned for the first half of 2019. A respective pre-submission meeting with the European Medicines Agency EMA is planned for the first quarter 2019.

FYB202 is a biosimilar candidate for Stelara®** (ustekinumab). The drug substance process development and manufacturing scale-up are at an advanced stage. A preclinical pharmacokinetic study has concluded the in-life phase and sample analysis is ongoing. Scientific advice briefing books have been sent to the US FDA for a Type II meeting and to the EMA for a scientific advice meeting. The advices are expected for November (EMA) and early 2019 (FDA). The initiation of the clinical testing of FYB202 is planned for mid-2019.

Significant progress has also been made in the development of FYB203, which is a biosimilar candidate for Eylea®*** (aflibercept). Similar to FYB202 drug substance process development and scale-up are at an advanced level. In preclinical development the in-life phase for a pharmacokinetic study has been completed and sample analysis is ongoing. Currently scientific advice briefing books are being prepared in order to align on the future development strategy with both regulatory authorities (FDA and EMA).

FYB205, for which Formycon has so far not published any details, is an early stage biosimilar project that has been progressed up to the initial cell line screening.

In addition, Formycon is exploring other biosimilar targets with the goal of optimizing the full potential of the development pipeline.

Dr. Carsten Brockmeyer, CEO of Formycon: “We believe FYB201 is the only Lucentis® biosimilar that has successfully completed phase III testing for the global market. The positive outcome of the FYB201 phase III study and the robust progress we have made in our partnered FYB202 and FYB203 programs underlines Formycon’s pioneering role in the development of global quality biosimilars in ophthalmology and immunology. I would like to thank the Formycon team and our licensing and cooperation partners for their great commitment and cooperation.”

Dr. Stefan Glombitza, COO of Formycon, completes: “Our teams are combining strong scientific skills with tremendous passion. This is a very powerful enabler to drive such complex development programs forward and the cross-functional teams can be proud of the achievements that have been made across all programs. We have expanded our organization by further skilled talents with focus on late stage experience and this will help us thrive our programs into further advanced stages.”

* Lucentis® is a registered trademark of Genentech Inc.
** Stelara® is a registered trademark of Johnson & Johnson
*** Eylea® is a registered trademark of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.