FDA grants “Orphan Drug Designation” to Cyclodextrin for treatment of Niemann-Pick Disease Type C

Due to the efforts of Hugh and Chris Hempel, Dr. Caroline Hastings and Ron Browne, an application to the Food and Drug Administration requesting “Orphan Drug Status” for cyclodextrin has been approved.

What exactly does that mean for our NPD community?

It is important to emphasize that an Orphan designation does not make any assessment at all on how the drug works in clinical trials, whether it is safe or effective in patients, nor whether it will ever be commercially available – the Orphan designation’s main purpose is to make the development of the drug more financially viable for the developer.

Please visit the NNPDF's cyclodextrin page for a bit of background and glossary terms that will help you to understand this latest development.