AstraZeneca and Pozen : PN400

RNS Number : 4510M

AstraZeneca PLC

29 January 2009

 



ASTRAZENECA'S PARTNER, POZEN INFORMED BY FDA THAT GASTRIC ULCERS ARE VALID PRIMARY ENDPOINT IN PN 400 TRIALS

POZEN Inc., AstraZeneca's co-development partner for the investigational compound PN 400, has been informed that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed its internal discussions and that there is no change to the previous agreements that gastric ulcer incidence is an acceptable primary endpoint for the PN 400 Phase III clinical programmes.

In October, the FDA had announced that they were conducting an internal review on the acceptability of gastric ulcers as a primary endpoint in clinical studies.

PN 400 is a fixed dose combination of enteric-coated naproxen with immediate release esomeprazole for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis in patients who are at risk of developing NSAID associated gastric ulcers. The two pivotal ulcer risk reduction studies have completed and met their primary endpoints. In both studies, patients taking PN 400 experienced significantly fewer endoscopically confirmed gastric ulcers compared to subjects receiving enteric-coated naproxen during the six-month treatment period. Two additional Phase III studies are still ongoing.  

Upon completion of the entire PN400 Phase III clinical programme, AstraZeneca will make a final determination regarding regulatory filing. A regulatory submission for PN400 in the US is currently planned for mid 2009. 

About PN 400

PN 400 is an investigational compound under co-development by AstraZeneca and POZEN, Inc. that combines the pain reliever naproxen (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or NSAID) with esomeprazole - a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), for the treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis in patients who are at risk of developing gastric ulcers. 

About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in research, development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and supplier for healthcare services. AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of US $29.55 billion and is a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection product sales. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index.  For more Information visit www.astrazeneca.com

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29 January 2009

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