US FDA denies approval for Tricida’s Veverimer

Tricida received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its New Drug Application (NDA) for veverimer on August 21, 2020. The NDA was reviewed under the Accelerated Approval Program.

According to the CRL, the FDA is seeking additional data beyond the TRCA-301 and TRCA-301E trials regarding the magnitude and durability of the treatment effect of veverimer on the surrogate marker of serum bicarbonate and the applicability of the treatment effect to the U.S. population. FDA also expressed concern as to whether the demonstrated effect size would be reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. There were no safety, clinical pharmacology/biopharmaceutics, CMC or non-clinical issues identified in the CRL.

The CRL provided multiple options for resolving the identified deficiencies. In order to obtain approval for veverimer the company may or may not have to conduct an additional clinical trial. The FDA indicated it is willing to meet with Tricida to discuss options for obtaining approval, including under the Accelerated Approval Program.

“We have collaborated with the FDA on the Accelerated Approval Program for veverimer and while we are disappointed to receive this CRL, we are pleased that the FDA has provided helpful, specific comments and indicated their willingness to continue to work with us to pursue approval of veverimer. We remain confident in the fundamentals of, and unmet medical need for, veverimer and we continue to conduct our confirmatory trial, VALOR-CKD,” said Gerrit Klaerner, Chief Executive Officer and President, Tricida.”

Tricida plans to request a Type A meeting with the FDA in the coming weeks. A Type A meeting is usually scheduled within 30 days of the meeting request. Following the Type A meeting, anticipated early in the fourth quarter, Tricida plans to provide an update on next steps and estimated timing of a potential resubmission of the NDA.