SOBI's Elocta granted orphan drug designation in Switzerland

Biotech firm Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (STO: SOBI) has received orphan drug designation in Switzerland for its long-acting hemophilia drug candidate Elocta for the treatment of hemophilia A.

The orphan drug designation is to encourage the development of medicines for rare diseases and provides orphan status to drugs and biologics under development. Hemophilia A is the most common type of hemophilia, an inherited condition that influences the body’s ability to clot. Patients with hemophilia A lack clotting factor FVIII, and symptoms can be mild to severe depending on the level of clotting factor. It is a rare disease, occurring in one of 5,000 male births.