TOKYO, April 24, 2018 - Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D., “Astellas” ) today announced that it submitted on March 23, 2018, a new drug application (NDA) for marketing approval of gilteritinib (generic name) in Japan for the treatment of adult patients with FLT3 mutation-positive (FLT3mut+) relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Astellas also submitted a NDA for approval of gilteritinib in the same patient population to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 29, 2018 (U.S. time) following the submission in Japan. The applications for marketing approval for gilteritinib are based on data from the ongoing pivotal Phase 3 ADMIRAL study investigating gilteritinib in adult patients with FLT3mut+ relapsed or refractory AML.
AML is a cancer that impacts the blood and bone marrow, and its incidence increases with age. In Japan, approximately 5,500 patients are diagnosed with AML each year. Gilteritinib is an investigational compound that has demonstrated inhibitory activity against both internal tandem duplication (ITD) and tyrosine kinase domain (TKD), FLT3 mutations that are seen in approximately one-third of patients with AML.
In October 2015, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) announced the selection of gilteritinib as one of the first products designated for SAKIGAKE.
