Lex­i­con bags FDA OK on lead drug for car­ci­noid syn­drome, preps for a com­mer­cial launch

Lex­i­con Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals $LXRX has com­plet­ed a marathon de­vel­op­ment pro­gram with an FDA ap­proval of telotri­s­tat eth­yl (which will be sold as Xer­me­lo and was for­mer­ly known as LX1032) for car­ci­noid syn­drome, which is linked with se­vere di­ar­rhea.

The oral drug in­hibits tryp­to­phan hy­drox­y­lase, or TPH, elim­i­nat­ing sero­tonin in the GI tract but leav­ing lev­els in the brain un­af­fect­ed. Back in the sum­mer of 2015, in­ves­ti­ga­tors out­lined the first batch of Phase III da­ta for the drug, demon­strat­ing a re­duc­tion in bow­el move­ments. Car­ci­noid syn­drome is de­scribed as a rare and de­bil­i­tat­ing con­di­tion that af­fects peo­ple with metasta­t­ic neu­roen­docrine tu­mors, or mNET.

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