18 February 2020 - - The US Food and Drug Administration has accepted for filing US-based commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company Epizyme, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: EPZM) New Drug Application for the accelerated approval of Tazverik (tazemetostat) for patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma who have received at least two prior lines of systemic therapy, the company said.

The FDA granted Priority Review and has designated the company's application as a supplemental NDA with a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of June 18, 2020.

Priority Review is granted to investigational therapies that, if approved, may offer significant improvements in the treatment, prevention or diagnosis of a serious condition.

Epizyme's sNDA submission is based primarily on updated Phase 2 efficacy and safety data for Tazverik in this patient population, which were presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology annual meeting.

The data demonstrated that treatment with Tazverik resulted in clinical benefit as assessed by both investigators and an Independent Review Committee, and was shown to be generally well tolerated in FL patients with EZH2 activating mutations and FL patients with wild-type EZH2.

To support a full approval of Tazverik for FL, Epizyme is conducting a single, global, randomized, adaptive trial to evaluate the combination of Tazverik with "R2" (Revlimid plus Rituxan), an approved chemo-free treatment regimen, for FL patients in the second-line or later treatment setting.

The trial is expected to enroll approximately 500 FL patients, stratified based on their EZH2 mutation status. The safety run-in portion of the trial is underway, and the company expects to advance into the efficacy portion of the Phase 1b/3 trial in 2020.

Tazverik (tazemetostat) is a methyltransferase inhibitor indicated for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients aged 16 years and older with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma not eligible for complete resection.

This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response.

Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in a confirmatory trial(s).

Epizyme, Inc. is a fully integrated commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to its mission of rewriting treatment for cancer and other serious diseases through novel epigenetic medicines.

In addition to an active research and discovery pipeline, Epizyme has one US FDA approved product, Tazverik (tazemetostat), for the treatment of patients aged 16 years and older with metastatic or locally advanced epithelioid sarcoma who are not eligible for complete resection.

This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on overall response rate and duration of response. 

Continued approval for this indication is contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in an ongoing confirmatory trial.

The company is also exploring the treatment potential of tazemetostat in investigational clinical trials in other solid tumors and hematological malignancies, as a monotherapy and combination therapy in both relapsed and front-line disease settings.

By focusing on the genetic drivers of disease, Epizyme seeks to match medicines with the patients who need them.