Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen) announced the submission of a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval of sirukumab for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is a chronic, systemic inflammatory condition that affects approximately 1.5 million Americans.

“We are committed to deepening our understanding of rheumatoid arthritis with the goal of applying new scientific learnings to advance treatments like sirukumab for people living with this inflammatory rheumatologic disease,” said Newman Yeilding, M.D., Head of Immunology Development, Janssen Research & Development, LLC. “We are pleased to submit an application for sirukumab to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and look forward to working with the agency with the goal of bringing this new biologic therapy to patients in need of alternative treatment options.”

Data from the phase 3 SIRROUND clinical development programme, which includes five studies (SIRROUND-D, SIRROUND-T, SIRROUND-H, SIRROUND-M and SIRROUND-LTE) served as the basis for submission. Results from the SIRROUND-D study were recently presented at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2016), and results from the SIRROUND-T and SIRROUND-H studies are planned for presentation later this year.

SIRROUND clinical programme is the phase 3 clinical programme in patients with active RA thatincludes five studies investigating subcutaneously administered sirukumab 50 mg every four weeks and sirukumab 100 mg every two weeks in combination with conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or as monotherapy. The comprehensive development programme involves more than 3,000 patients encompassing the following five studies:

SIRROUND-D: patients who had an inadequate response to DMARDs. This study is estimated to complete in 2017.

SIRROUND-T: patients who had an inadequate response or were intolerant to anti-TNFa agents. This study has completed.

SIRROUND-H: patients with an inadequate response or who were intolerant to methotrexate (MTX) or for whom MTX was inappropriate. This study has completed.

SIRROUND-M: Japanese patients who had an inadequate response to MTX or sulfasalazine. This study has completed.

SIRROUND-LTE: a long-term extension study for patients completing SIRROUND-D and SIRROUND-T. This study is estimated to complete in 2020.

Sirukumab is a human monoclonal IgG1 kappa antibody that targets the cytokine IL-6, a naturally occurring protein that is believed to play a role in autoimmune conditions like RA. It is not approved as a treatment for RA or any other indication anywhere in the world.

In December 2011, Janssen and GSK entered into a licensing and co-development agreement with respect to sirukumab. Under the terms, GSK has exclusive rights to commercialize sirukumab in North, Central and South America, while Janssen retains commercialization rights in the rest of the world, including such territories as Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific with global profit shared equally between the two companies. Prior to the agreement, Janssen had been developing sirukumab for RA.

As part of the collaboration, a phase 3 programme began in August 2012 to investigate sirukumab for the treatment of moderately to severely active RA. Janssen is responsible for the FDA regulatory file. The agreement gives both companies the option to investigate sirukumab for other indications beyond RA.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory condition that is characterized by pain, joint swelling, stiffness, joint destruction and disability. It is estimated that more than 23.5 million people worldwide are affected by the condition, for which there is no cure.