UCB lands FDA ap­proval in newest in­di­ca­tion for new­ly-ac­quired Zo­genix epilep­sy drug

Three weeks af­ter Bel­gian phar­ma UCB fi­nal­ized its $1.9 bil­lion ac­qui­si­tion of Cal­i­for­nia-based biotech Zo­genix, its new­ly-ac­quired epilep­sy drug fen­flu­ramine got the seal of ap­proval from the FDA for a new in­di­ca­tion: Lennox-Gas­taut syn­drome (LGS), a rare type of se­vere epilep­sy, in pa­tients ages two and up.

UCB made the an­nounce­ment ear­ly Mon­day morn­ing, ex­act­ly three weeks af­ter UCB beat two oth­er com­peti­tors in buy­ing out Zo­genix and its lead drug fen­flu­ramine, al­so known as Fin­tepla, at $26 a share. At the time, UCB’s EVP of neu­rol­o­gy and head of Eu­rope/in­ter­na­tion­al mar­kets Charl van Zyl said in a state­ment, “Uti­liz­ing our deep ex­per­tise, ex­pe­ri­ence and glob­al ca­pa­bil­i­ties, we plan to ac­cel­er­ate ac­cess for pa­tients to the treat­ment.”

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