Janssen Announces U.S. FDA Approval of PONVORY ™ (ponesimod), an Oral Treatment for Adults with Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis Proven Superior to Aubagio® (teriflunomide) in Reducing Annual Relapses and Brain Lesions

TITUSVILLE, N.J. – (March 19, 2021) – The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved PONVORY™ (ponesimod), a once-daily oral selective sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1P1) modulator, to treat adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), to include clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing-remitting disease and active secondary progressive disease.1,2,3 PONVORY™ offers MS patients superior efficacy in reducing annualized relapse rates compared to an established oral therapy and a proven safety profile backed by over a decade of cumulative clinical research.3,4,5 The FDA approval is based, in part, on a two-year, head-to-head Phase 3 clinical trial in which PONVORY™ 20 mg demonstrated superior efficacy in significantly reducing annual relapses by 30.5% compared to teriflunomide (Aubagio®) 14 mg in patients with relapsing MS.3 Over the study period, 71% of patients treated with PONVORY™ had no confirmed relapses, compared to 61% in the teriflunomide group.3 PONVORY™ was also superior to teriflunomide in reducing the number of new gadolinium-enhancing (GdE) T1 lesions and the number of new or enlarging T2 lesions by 59% and 56%, respectively.3 GdE T1 lesions and T2 lesions are identified using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology and are recognized as classic measures of MS pathology that can provide insights into disease activity and disease burden, respec...
Source: Johnson and Johnson - Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: Innovation Source Type: news