31 October 2014 - Kamada, an Ireland-based company, has received orphan drug designation from the US Food and Drug Administration's Office of Orphan Products Development for its human Alpha-1 Antitrypsin, Glassia, it was reported yesterday.

The product is used to treat immunologically-based graft versus host disease.

According to the preliminary human and animal studies, the product is likely to be able to treat and decrease the severity of graft versus host disease, a life threatening complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Presently, the product is used in a Phase I/II clinical trial that is being conducted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington in collaboration with Baxter International and Kamada.