Sylvant secured approval in over 40 countries to treat idiopathic multicentric Castleman’s disease (iMCD), which is a subtype of Castleman disease or giant lymph node hyperplasia, lymphoid hamartoma, or angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia.
Sylvant is a monoclonal antibody, which inhibits the action of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a multifunctional cytokine detected at elevated levels in iMCD patients.
The iMCD is a rare, life-threatening and debilitating lymphoproliferative disorder, which results in abnormal overgrowth of immune cells and shares multiple symptomatic and histological features with lymphoma.
Sylvant is claimed to be the only approved treatment for iMCD in the US. Eusa intends to commercialize Sylvant via its worldwide commercial platform, enabling to expand the treatment into new markets.
Eusa has completed a significant expansion of its North American commercial operations and opened new headquarters in Boston of Massachusetts, after the recent appointment of Jeff Hackman as the company’s US president.
The company is planning to re-launch Sylvant across the US during this month, and is currently training a team of 30 specialist oncology representatives and medical science liaisons to better market the treatment.
Eusa will also re-launch Sylvant via its European commercial and medical infrastructure, in addition to expanding its direct operations into multiple new territories such as the Republic of Korea, Canada and certain markets in South America and South East Asia.
Eusa is also planning to invest to further develop the product in additional indications, where IL-6 blockade is expected to be indicated. The firm is focusing on cytokine release syndrome associated with CAR-T therapy.
Eusa Pharma CEO Lee Morley said: “Sylvant is a perfect fit with Eusa’s oncology and rare disease focus, and provides the company with a major opportunity to continue its rapid growth. As the only approved treatment for the devastating disorder iMCD, we have ambitious plans to bring Sylvant to patients around the world.
“As part of this strategy we plan to use our established commercial platform in Europe, develop new commercial operations in a number of new territories, and leverage our significantly expanded US commercial team to relaunch Sylvant in the US.”