Amryt signs agreement covering Central and Eastern Europe

(Stock image)

Ellie Donnelly

Irish-listed Amryt Pharma, which is focused on finding treatments for rare and orphan diseases, has signed a distribution agreement for the company’s Lojuxta (lomitapide) product covering Central and Eastern Europe.

The deal has been signed with healthcare consultancy and distribution company GryNumber Health.

Lojuxta is a treatment for Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolaemia ("HoFH"), a rare, life-limiting disease, which impairs the body's ability to remove bad cholesterol from the blood.

The disease process starts before birth and progresses rapidly and typically results in extremely high bad cholesterol levels in blood, leading to aggressive and premature narrowing and blocking of blood vessels.

Left untreated, heart attack or sudden death may occur in childhood or early adulthood.

Areas covered under the distribution agreement include Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Amryt estimates that there are approximately 100 patients with HoFH in these countries, with requests for access to Lojuxta made by clinicians throughout the region.

“GryNumber Health has a well-established presence in, and significant experience of, the healthcare markets in Central and Eastern Europe and therefore is an ideal partner for us in the region,” Dr. Joe Wiley, CEO of Amryt Pharma, said.

Earlier this week Amryt announced that it had signed a distribution agreement for the company’s Lojuxta product in Switzerland, while in November the company signed a distribution agreement covering its products in Saudi Arabia.

In December 2016 Amryt acquired exclusive marketing rights for Lojuxta in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Israel.