Zosano Pharma Announces FDA Acceptance of 505(b)(2) New Drug Application for Qtrypta™ for the Acute Treatment of Migraine

FREMONT, Calif., March 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zosano Pharma Corporation (Nasdaq: ZSAN), a biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the company’s New Drug Application (NDA) for Qtrypta™ for filing and substantive review.

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date for the completion of the FDA’s review of Qtrypta™ is set for October 20, 2020. This date reflects a standard 10-month review period and is consistent with the review timeline for a 505(b)(2) NDA submission.

 “The FDA’s filing of our NDA represents a significant milestone and an important step for Zosano and Qtrypta toward our goal of bringing an innovative therapy that we believe can make an important difference in the lives of patients who suffer from migraine. We believe Qtrypta, if approved, has the potential to offer patients rapid, sustained pain relief with no recurrence,” said Steven Lo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Zosano. “This submission also represents the first NDA to be submitted to the FDA for a pharmaceutical microneedle patch.  We believe this technology, if approved, has the potential to transform how drugs, biologics and vaccines are delivered, and we look forward to further discussions with the FDA during its review of this submission. We are grateful for the patients who participated in our clinical trials, our clinical investigators and the entire Zosano team who have helped us realize this significant milestone.”

“Migraine is a chronic and disabling neurological disease, affecting several areas of the brain and its blood vessels. Many patients are unsatisfied with their current acute treatment options. Migraine can significantly impair functional ability at work or school with devastating impact to the patient’s quality of life,” said Alan M. Rapoport, M.D., a Clinical Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “I believe Qtrypta, if approved, will offer patients with difficult to treat migraine attacks a new, non-oral treatment option that gives them confidence and control over their attacks and ability to get back to life.”

The NDA is supported by the clinical results of the ZOTRIP pivotal Phase 2/3 clinical study, which evaluated the efficacy, safety and tolerability of Qtrypta™ compared to placebo. A total of 41.5% of patients treated with the 3.8 mg dose of Qtrypta™ achieved pain freedom at 2 hours and 68.3% reported freedom from most bothersome symptom also at 2 hours, both of which were co-primary endpoints. Additionally, 80.5% of patients reported pain relief at 2 hours, a secondary endpoint.  The results of the study were published in Cephalalgia in October 2017.

A post-hoc analysis showing that Qtrypta™ reduced pain in subjects with difficult to treat migraine attacks was published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain in February 2019. 

Additionally, in the Phase 3 long term safety study, the most frequently reported adverse event was redness at the application site.  Of these adverse events, 95% were reported as mild, and more than 80% resolved within 48 hours.  Less than 2% of patients reported triptan-like neurological side effects typically found in the class, such as dizziness and paresthesia.

About Qtrypta™ (M207)

Qtrypta is Zosano’s proprietary formulation of zolmitriptan delivered utilizing its proprietary intracutaneous microneedle system (the “System”) in development for the acute treatment of migraine.   The System consists of titanium microneedles coated with drug, and in the case of Qtrypta™, the formulation is zolmitriptan. The drug-coated microneedles are designed to penetrate the epidermis and dermis, where the investigational drug dissolves and easily enters into the bloodstream. In February 2017, the Company announced statistically significant results from the ZOTRIP pivotal study, in which the 3.8 mg dose of Qtrypta™ met both co-primary endpoints, achieving pain freedom and most bothersome symptom freedom at 2 hours.

About Migraine

Migraine is a highly prevalent neurological disease impacting 12% of the US population and 1 in 4 households. Patients impacted by migraine experience significant disability, with 90% unable to function normally.  Migraine attacks are estimated to lead to lost productivity costs as high as $36 billion annually in the United States, including both direct and indirect costs. There is a significant need for new acute treatment options since 74% of migraine patients experience inadequate treatment response.

About Zosano Pharma

Zosano Pharma Corporation is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing products where rapid administration of approved molecules with established safety and efficacy profiles may provide substantial benefit to patients, in markets where patients remain underserved by existing therapies. The company’s intracutaneous microneedle system technology consists of titanium microneedles coated with drug that are designed to enable rapid systemic administration of therapeutics to patients. Zosano’s lead product candidate is Qtrypta™ (M207), which is a proprietary formulation of zolmitriptan delivered via its intracutaneous microneedle system technology, as an acute treatment for migraine. The company anticipates that many of its current and future development programs may enable the company to utilize a regulatory pathway that would streamline clinical development and accelerate the path towards commercialization.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the NDA for Qtrypta™ and other future events and expectations. Readers are urged to consider statements that include the words "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "might," "believes," "estimates," "projects," "potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "intends," "continues," "forecast," "designed," "goal," "unaudited," "approximately" or the negative of those words or other comparable words to be uncertain and forward-looking. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and actual outcomes may differ materially. These include risks and uncertainties, without limitation, the process of discovering, developing and commercializing products that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, risks inherent in the effort to build a business around such products and other risks and uncertainties described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the company's most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Although Zosano believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot in any way guarantee that the future results, level of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Zosano and Zosano assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

Zosano Contact:

Christine Matthews

Interim Chief Financial Officer

(510) 745-1200

PR Contacts:

Sylvia Wheeler

Alexandra Santos