FDA agrees accelerated approval pathway for GBT’s voxelotor

Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc. (GBT) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has informed GBT through discussions and written correspondence that the agency agrees with the Company’s proposal relating to use of an accelerated approval pathway for voxelotor for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). GBT plans to submit an NDA for voxelotor for the treatment of SCD under this pathway. GBT proposed that by raising hemoglobin, voxelotor is reasonably likely to reduce strokes in SCD patients. As part of these discussions, the FDA agreed that transcranial doppler (TCD) flow velocity would be an acceptable primary endpoint in a post-approval confirmatory study to demonstrate stroke risk reduction.