Shire says Fabry and Gaucher disease studies continue to support patient switches to Replagal and Vpriv

Ireland-headquartered specialty drug firm Shire (LSE: SHP) reported positive data from several studies at the Annual Symposium of the Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (SSIEM) supporting the safety of switching to the company’s Replagal (agalsidase alfa) from Genzyme’s Fabrazyme (agalsidase beta) in Fabry patients, and the long-term safety and benefits of switching to Vpriv (velaglucerase alfa) from Cerezyme (imiglucerase; also from Genzyme) in type 1 Gaucher disease patients.

Rare diseases specialist Genzyme, now part of French drug major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN), has encountered a batch of problems which have limited supplies of its Fabry and Gaucher’s drugs, that have led to patient switching to the Shire products being recommended by regulatory authorities (The Pharma Letters passim).

"The volume of data presented to the medical community at SSIEM provides compelling evidence of the safety profile and tolerability of Replagal and the long-term clinical efficacy and safety profile of Vpriv,” said Dr M Rohrbach, from the Division of Metabolism, Connective Tissue Unit, University Children's Hospital in Zurich, who added that "patients and physicians want to be reassured that the product they are switching to is not only readily available - but also generally well tolerated. The data presented at SSIEM provides us with that evidence."