The Food and Drug Administration has approved selumetinib (Koselugo) for the treatment of pediatric patients aged 2 years and older with type 1 neurofibromatosis (NF1) with symptomatic, inoperable plexiform neurofibromas.
FDA approval was based on results from the phase 2 SPRINT Stratum 1 trial, in which 50 patients with NF1 received selumetinib as twice-daily oral monotherapy. Of this group, 33 (66%) patients had a partial response of at least a 20% reduction in tumor volume. There were no complete responses, according to a press release.
The most common adverse events were vomiting, rash, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, dry skin, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, pyrexia, rash acneiform, stomatitis, headache, paronychia, and pruritus. Dose interruptions, dose reductions, and permanent drug discontinuation occurred in 80%, 24%, and 12% of patients, respectively.
Serious adverse reactions included cardiomyopathy, ocular toxicity, gastrointestinal toxicity, increased creatinine phosphokinase, and increased vitamin E levels and risk of bleeding, according to the press release.
“Previously, there were no medicines approved for this disease. This approval has the potential to change how symptomatic, inoperable NF1 plexiform neurofibromas are treated and provides new hope to these patients,” Roy Baynes, MD, PhD, senior vice president, head of global clinical development, and chief medical officer of Merck Research Laboratories, said in the press release.