AstraZeneca’s Moventig gains EU approval for OIC

The European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Anglo-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca’s (LSE: AZN) Moventig (naloxegol) for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in adult patients who have had an inadequate response to laxative(s).

Moventig is the first once-daily oral peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist (PAMORA) to be approved in the European Union, the company said, noting that the drug had in September been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration under the trade name Movantik.

Opioids play an important role in chronic pain relief and work by binding to mu-receptors in the central nervous system, but they also bind to mu-receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, which can result in patients suffering from OIC.