The Food and Drug Administration granted orphan drug designation Wednesday to Graspa, a new drug being developed by Erytech Pharma as a potential treatment for acute-lymphoblastic leukemia.
Orphan drug status, granted to experimental drugs aimed at diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States, provides companies with expanded market exclusivity and tax incentives for development costs.
Erytech is based in Lyons, France, and has operations in West Philadelphia at the Science Center.
Graspa is a new enzyme formulation of L-asparaginase — a chemical shown to damage cancer cells — that the company has encapsulated inside red blood cells to make it safer and have a broader range of clinical uses, as compared to existing forms of L-asparaginase .
Dr. Yann Godfrin, co-founder and CEO of Erytech Pharma, said the company is in discussions about initiating clinical trials of Graspa in the United States.