FDA Approves Aegerion Pharmaceuticals' JUXTAPID(TM) (lomitapide) Capsules For Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (HoFH)

The FDA based its approval of JUXTAPID on Aegerion's pivotal Phase III study, which evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the medicine to reduce LDL-C levels in 29 adult patients with HoFH. The study was a multinational, single-arm, open-label, 78 week trial that was recently published in the November 2, 2012 online version of the Lancet. In this study, JUXTAPID was initiated at 5 mg daily and gradually escalated to doses of 10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg, up to 60 mg, based on tolerability and acceptable liver enzymes levels.  

When added to the existing lipid-lowering therapy of the HoFH patients in the study, JUXTAPID significantly reduced LDL-C from a baseline average of 336 mg/dL to 190 mg/dL (40% reduction) at Week 26 in the intent-to-treat population with last observation carried forward for the patients who discontinued prematurely. LDL-C was reduced by an average of 50 percent for the 23 patients who completed the study through Week 26. After Week 26, during the safety phase of the study, adjustments to concomitant lipid-lowering treatments were allowed.  Average reductions in LDL-C were sustained during chronic therapy.

The most common adverse reactions in the Phase III trial were gastrointestinal, reported by 27 (93%) of 29 patients. Adverse reactions, which were reported by ≥8 patients (28%) in the HoFH clinical trial, included diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, dyspepsia and abdominal pain. Other common adverse reactions, reported by 5 to 7 (17-24%) patients, included weight loss, abdominal discomfort, abdominal distension, constipation, flatulence, increased ALT, chest pain, influenza, nasopharyngitis, and fatigue. Elevations in liver enzymes and hepatic (liver) fat were also observed. Ten of the 29 patients in the study had at least one elevation in liver enzymes greater than or equal to three times the upper limit of normal, including four patients who experienced liver enzymes greater than or equal to five times the upper limit of normal.  Liver enzyme elevations were managed through dose reduction or temporary discontinuation of dose. There were no clinically meaningful elevations of total bilirubin, international normalized ratio (INR) or alkaline phosphatase, which are other markers of potential harmful effects on the liver. Hepatic fat increased from a baseline of 1 percent to a median absolute increase of 6 percent at 26 and 78 weeks.

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