GlaxoSmithKline Plc, one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies has filed for FDA approval of Promacta-Revolade (eltrombopag).
If approved, the once-a-day pill would be used to increase platelet counts and reduce or prevent bleeding in people with rare blood disorder idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) to, London-based Glaxo said in a statement.
“Patients with chronic ITP do not have a treatment option that offers the convenience of an oral platelet growth factor,” said Paolo Paoletti, M.D., Senior Vice President of the Oncology Medicine Development Center at GSK.
“If approved, Promacta/Revolade may provide physicians and chronic ITP patients with a new, convenient and effective option for treating this difficult disease, he said.â€
There is said to be between 50,000-100,000 individuals diagnosed with a chronic form of ITP in the U.S.
GSK plans to seek authorization to sell the drug in Europe in 2008.