October 1, 2012 — Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Pfizer Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has acknowledged receipt of the new drug application (NDA) resubmission for Eliquis (apixaban) to reduce the risk of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). The FDA has assigned a new Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date of March 17, 2013. The FDA has deemed the resubmission a complete response to its June 22, 2012 complete response letter that requested additional information on data management and verification from the ARISTOTLE trial.
The Eliquis NDA is based on the results of the ARISTOTLE and AVERROES studies. These clinical studies evaluated Eliquis in approximately 24,000 patients with NVAF, in the largest clinical trial program conducted to date in this patient population. The landmark ARISTOTLE trial compared apixaban to warfarin, the standard of care, in more than 18,000 NVAF patients, while AVERROES compared apixaban to aspirin in 5,598 NVAF patients who were unsuitable for vitamin K antagonist (VKA) therapy.
ARISTOTLE and AVERROES are part of an ongoing clinical development program for Eliquis, which is projected to include nearly 60,000 patients worldwide across multiple indications and patient populations and includes a total of nine completed or ongoing, randomized, double-blind phase III trials.
The companies continue to progress the Eliquis application for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation in markets outside of the United Stated, including the European Union and Japan, based on the ARISTOTLE and AVERROES studies. On Sept. 21, 2012, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer Inc. announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive opinion recommending that Eliquis (apixaban) be granted approval for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in adult patients with NVAF and with one or more risk factors for stroke.
Eliquis is also being investigated in Phase III trials for the treatment of venous thrombolembolic events (VTE).
For more information: www.pfizer.com