Specialty pharmaceutical company, Lipocine Inc. announced has received a Complete Response Letter (CRL) from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding its New Drug Application (NDA) for Tlando, the company's oral testosterone product candidate for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in adult males for conditions associated with a deficiency of endogenous testosterone, also known as hypogonadism. A CRL is a communication from the FDA that informs companies that an application cannot be approved in its present form.

The CRL identified four deficiencies which include the following: determining the extent, if any, of ex vivo conversion of testosterone undecanoate (TU) to testosterone (T) in serum blood collection tubes to confirm the reliability of T data; obtaining definitive evidence pre-approval via an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring study as to whether Tlando causes a clinically meaningful increase in blood pressure in hypogonadal men; verifying the reliability of Cmax data and providing justification for non-applicability of the agreed-upon and prespecified Cmax secondary endpoints for Tlando; and, determining the appropriate stopping criteria that can reproducibly and accurately identify those patients who should discontinue use of Tlando. The CRL also identified additional comments that are not considered approvability issues.  The next step will be to request a meeting with the FDA to further evaluate the deficiencies raised and to agree upon a path forward for a potential approval of Tlando.

"While we are disappointed by the FDA's decision, the deficiencies identified in the CRL are within our expectations following the meeting we had on January 10, 2018 with the Bone, Reproductive and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee (BRUDAC) of the FDA.  We are assessing the content of the CRL, including the information that may be needed to resolve the deficiencies.  We remain committed to work with the FDA to bring Tlando to patients," said Dr. Mahesh Patel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Lipocine.

Lipocine Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company developing innovative pharmaceutical products for use in men's and women's health using its proprietary drug delivery technologies.