US FDA Grants Orphan Drug Designation of SN Bioscience’s Nano Anti-Cancer Drug ‘SNB-101’ for Small Cell Lung Cancer

On July 20, 2023 SN Bioscience Co. Ltd. (CEO Park Young-hwan) reported that the US FDA had granted an orphan drug designation for small cell lung cancer for SNB-101 (API: SN-38), a new polymer nanoparticle drug under development (Press release, SN BioScience, JUL 20, 2023, View Source [SID1234633344]). SNB-101 is the world’s first nanoparticle anticancer drug that has been developed extremely insoluble SN-38 into polymer nanoparticles. It has been approved for phase 1 clinical trials in the US (NCT04640480) and Korea, and the IND for phase 2 has been filed after phase 1 clinical trial in Korea.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

SNB-101 showed excellent efficacy in animal small cell lung cancer models, and based on this, it has been designated as an orphan drug by the US FDA after application in April and review. Small cell lung cancer accounts for 15-20% of all lung cancers with a very poor prognosis. The current standard treatment (first-line treatment) is classic drugs, Cisplatin + Etoposide. However, as there are very limited options for second-line treatment and others, it is an area with very high medical unmet needs.

Orphan drug designation is a program where the FDA facilitates the development and approval of treatments for rare/incurable or life-threatening diseases. SN Bioscience expects the designation as an orphan drug to accelerate the development of SNB-101, which is being developed as a treatment for orphan drugs including small cell lung cancer.

Orphan drug designation provides the qualified drug developers with various benefits such as exclusive rights for 7 years from the date of marketing approval, tax credits for R&D costs, assistance on clinical trial design for clinical development, exemption from review application fees, and priority review support.