Pemigatinib, sold under the brand name Pemazyre, is an

anti-cancer medication Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

used for the treatment of

bile duct cancer Cholangiocarcinoma, also known as bile duct cancer, is a type of cancer that forms in the bile ducts. Symptoms of cholangiocarcinoma may include abdominal pain, yellowish skin, weight loss, generalized itching, and fever. Light colored stool ...

(cholangiocarcinoma). Pemigatinib works by blocking FGFR2 in tumor cells to prevent them from growing and spreading. Pemigatinib belongs to a group of medicines called

protein kinase inhibitors A protein kinase inhibitor is a type of enzyme inhibitor that blocks the action of one or more protein kinases. Protein kinases are enzymes that phosphorylate (add a phosphate, or PO4, group) to a protein and can modulate its function. The phospha ...

. It works by blocking enzymes known as protein kinases, particularly those that are part of receptors (targets) called fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs). FGFRs are found on the surface of cancer cells and are involved in the growth and spread of the cancer cells. By blocking the tyrosine kinases in FGFRs, pemigatinib is expected to reduce the growth and spread of the cancer. The most common adverse reactions are

hyperphosphatemia Hyperphosphatemia is an electrolyte disorder in which there is an elevated level of phosphate in the blood. Most people have no symptoms while others develop calcium deposits in the soft tissue. Often there is also low calcium levels which can ...

and

hypophosphatemia Hypophosphatemia is an electrolyte disorder in which there is a low level of phosphate in the blood. Symptoms may include weakness, trouble breathing, and loss of appetite. Complications may include seizures, coma, rhabdomyolysis, or softening ...

(electrolyte disorders),

alopecia Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarri ...

(spot baldness), diarrhea, nail toxicity,

fatigue Fatigue describes a state of tiredness that does not resolve with rest or sleep. In general usage, fatigue is synonymous with extreme tiredness or exhaustion that normally follows prolonged physical or mental activity. When it does not resolve ...

dysgeusia Dysgeusia, also known as parageusia, is a distortion of the sense of taste. Dysgeusia is also often associated with ageusia, which is the complete lack of taste, and hypogeusia, which is a decrease in taste sensitivity. An alteration in taste or ...

(taste distortion), nausea, constipation,

stomatitis Stomatitis is inflammation of the mouth and lips. It refers to any inflammatory process affecting the mucous membranes of the mouth and lips, with or without oral ulceration. In its widest meaning, stomatitis can have a multitude of different cau ...

(sore or inflammation inside the mouth), dry eye, dry mouth, decreased appetite, vomiting, joint pain, abdominal pain, back pain and dry skin. Ocular (eye) toxicity is also a risk of pemigatinib. Additional common adverse reactions include rash, anemia, epistaxis, serous retinal detachment, extremity pain, dyspepsia, blurred vision, peripheral edema, and dizziness.

Medical uses

Pemigatinib is

indicated In medicine, an indication is a valid reason to use a certain test, medication, procedure, or surgery. There can be multiple indications to use a procedure or medication. An indication can commonly be confused with the term diagnosis. A diagnosis ...

for the treatment of adults with locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma with a fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) fusion or rearrangement that have progressed after at least one prior line of systemic therapy. In the United States it is also indicated for the treatment of relapsed or refractory myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms (MLNs) with fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) rearrangement. Cholangiocarcinoma is a rare form of cancer that forms in bile ducts, which are slender tubes that carry the digestive fluid bile from the liver to gallbladder and small intestine. Pemigatinib is indicated for the treatment of adults with bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) that is locally advanced (when cancer has grown outside the organ it started in, but has not yet spread to distant parts of the body) or metastatic (when cancer cells spread to other parts of the body) and who have tumors that have a fusion or other rearrangement of a gene called fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2).

History

Pemigatinib was approved for use in the United States in April 2020 along with the FoundationOne CDX ( Foundation Medicine, Inc.) as a companion diagnostic for patient selection. The approval of pemigatinib in the United States was based on the results the FIGHT-202 (NCT02924376) multicenter open-label single-arm trial that enrolled 107 participants with locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma with an FGFR2 fusion or rearrangement who had received prior treatment. The trial was conducted at 67 sites in the United States, Europe, and Asia. During the clinical trial, participants received pemigatinib once a day for 14 consecutive days, followed by 7 days off, in 21-day cycles until the disease progressed or the patient experienced an unreasonable level of side effects. To assess how well pemigatinib was working during the trial, participants were scanned every eight weeks. The trial used established criteria to measure how many participants experienced a complete or partial shrinkage of their tumors during treatment (overall response rate). The overall response rate was 36% (95% CI: 27%, 45%), with 2.8% of participants having a complete response and 33% having a partial response. Among the 38 participants who had a response, 24 participants (63%) had a response lasting six months or longer and seven participants (18%) had a response lasting 12 months or longer. The U.S.

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

(FDA) granted the application for pemigatinib

priority review Priority review is a program of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite the review process for drugs that are expected to have a particularly great impact on the treatment of a disease. The priority review voucher program ...

breakthrough therapy Breakthrough therapy is a United States Food and Drug Administration designation that expedites drug development that was created by Congress under Section 902 of the 9 July 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. The FDA's "br ...

and

orphan drug An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent developed to treat medical conditions which, because they are so rare, would not be profitable to produce without government assistance. The conditions are referred to as orphan diseases. The assignment of ...

designations. The FDA granted approval of Pemazyre to Incyte Corporation. On 24 August 2018, orphan designation (EU/3/18/2066) was granted by the European Commission to Incyte Biosciences Distribution B.V., the Netherlands, for pemigatinib for the treatment of biliary tract cancer. On 17 October 2019, orphan designation EU/3/19/2216 was granted by the European Commission to Incyte Biosciences Distribution B.V., the Netherlands, for pemigatinib for the treatment of myeloid/lymphoid neoplasms with eosinophilia and rearrangement of PDGFRA, PDGFRB, or FGFR1, or with PCM1-JAK2. On 28 January 2021, the

Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), formerly known as Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP), is the European Medicines Agency's committee responsible for elaborating the agency's opinions on all issues regarding ...

(CHMP) of the

European Medicines Agency The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products or Euro ...

(EMA) adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a conditional marketing authorization for the medicinal product Pemazyre, intended for the second-line treatment of advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma characterized by fusion or rearrangements of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2. The applicant for this medicinal product is Incyte Biosciences Distribution B.V. Text was copied from this source which is © European Medicines Agency. Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged. Pemigatinib was approved for medical use in the European Union in March 2021. Efficacy was evaluated in FIGHT-203 (NCT03011372), a multicenter open-label, single-arm trial that included 28 participants with relapsed or refractory MLNs with FGFR1 rearrangement. Eligible participants were either not candidates for or have relapsed after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) or after a disease modifying therapy (e.g., chemotherapy). Pemigatinib was administered until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or until participants were able to receive allo-HSCT.

Society and culture

Names

Pemigatinib is the international nonproprietary name (INN).

References

External links