Prevymis: Merck's viral infection drug gets EU recommendation

Merck & Co said on Tuesday the European Union medicines regulator recommended a marketing authorisation for the company’s drug Prevymis to treat a type of infection in adult kidney transplant recipients at high risk.

“This positive CHMP opinion is an important step towards making PREVYMIS available to high-risk kidney transplant patients to help prevent CMV disease, as well as extending dosing to 200 days for adults who receive an allogeneic stem-cell transplant and are at risk for late CMV infection and disease,” said Dr. Elizabeth Rhee, vice president, global clinical development, Merck Research Laboratories. “CMV is a potentially serious viral infection for these high-risk transplant recipients, and we are pleased that these patients in the EU will soon be able to access PREVYMIS to help prevent CMV infection and disease.”

Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended the approval of PREVYMIS® (letermovir) for prophylaxis of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in adult kidney transplant recipients at high risk.

PREVYMIS is an antiviral agent that was initially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 and by the EMA in 2018 for prophylaxis of CMV infection and disease in adult CMV-seropositive recipients [R+] of an allogeneic HSCT. In June 2023, the FDA approved PREVYMIS for prophylaxis of CMV disease in adult kidney transplant recipients at high risk, and in August 2023, the FDA approved extended 200-day dosing for PREVYMIS for CMV prophylaxis in HSCT recipients at risk for late CMV infection and disease.

The CHMP opinion for use of PREVYMIS for CMV disease prophylaxis in adult kidney transplant recipients was supported by a Phase 3, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, active comparator-controlled non-inferiority trial (P002, NCT03443869) in 589 adult kidney transplant recipients at high risk (CMV D+/R-). Additionally, the efficacy of extending PREVYMIS prophylaxis from Week 14 (~100 days) through Week 28 (~200 days) post-HSCT in patients at risk for late CMV infection and disease was assessed in a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 trial (P040, NCT03930615) in adult CMV-seropositive recipients [R+] of an allogeneic HSCT.