AMSTERDAM, June 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ —
Data Presented at the
79thEuropean Atherosclerosis
Society Meeting
Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (Euronext: AMT), a leader in
the field of human gene therapy, today released data showing that
its gene therapy Glybera® (alipogene tiparvovec) significantly
reduces the risk of pancreatitis in patients with Lipoprotein
Lipase Deficiency (LPLD). Pancreatitis, or inflammation of the
pancreas, is a major clinical symptom of LPLD. It causes severe
abdominal pain and often leads to hospitalization of patients as
well as other complications such as diabetes and early
atherosclerosis. Data were presented at the 79th
European Atherosclerosis Society Meeting (26-29 June 2011,
Gothenburg, Sweden).
“These data demonstrate the dramatic impact Glybera can have in
the lives of LPLD patients. Pancreatitis is a debilitating and
extremely painful condition. Many patients end up in the hospital
emergency room and try to control the pain by any means,” explained
Janneke de Wal, Director of Global Sales & Marketing at AMT.
“By reducing the incidence of pancreatitis episodes, Glybera has
the potential to help “normalize” the day to day lives of patients
affected by this disease and prevent the often frequent trips to
hospital.”
Study Details
Historical data on hospital presentations due to abdominal pain
from 17 patients already treated with Glybera were collected in
this case control study. Blinded event assessment was done by an
expert adjudication committee using a modified Atlanta Diagnostic
Criteria for acute pancreatitis to allow for incomplete historical
data. A statistically significant (p=0.0434) reduction in the risk
of acute pancreatitis was seen when the period from the first
pancreatitis event to administration of Glybera was compared with
the post-therapy period (median = 2.9 years). The hazard ratio, a
measure of how o
‘/>”/>
