Annexin Pharmaceuticals AB today announces that the World Health Organization (WHO) has selected vanexin as the proposed International Nonproprietary Name (INN) for the company's drug candidate ANXV. It is an important regulatory milestone and confirms the drug substance’s unique identity within the global drug nomenclature system. From now on, the company will gradually start using vanexin in external communication.
The INN system is administered by the WHO and aims to give pharmaceutical substances a unique and globally recognised generic name that is used in scientific, clinical and regulatory communication worldwide.
"The assignment of an International Nonproprietary Name is an important milestone in the development of our drug candidate. We had a few proposals and vanexin was preferred by WHO. This reflects the regulatory maturity of the program and is another step on the way to developing a new drug for patients with high unmet medical needs. From now on, vanexin will gradually replace ANXV in our external communication," says Anders Haegerstrand, CEO of Annexin Pharmaceuticals.
Vanexin (formerly known as ANXV) is Annexin's lead drug candidate and a recombinant human Annexin A5 protein with potentially disease-modifying mechanisms of action. The drug candidate is currently being evaluated in the ongoing Phase 2a NEXUS study in retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and diabetic retinopathy (DR). The company is also developing vanexin for future applications in oncology.
The proposed INN name is published by the WHO in its list of Proposed International Nonproprietary Name (Proposed INN) according to the organization's established process. If no hinderance to its future use is identified vanexin will become the recommended INN at the end of this year.