EU/3/15/1469

On 19 March 2015, orphan designation (EU/3/15/1469) was granted by the European Commission to Oncolytics Biotech (UK) Limited, United Kingdom, for human reovirus type 3 Dearing strain for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

What is ovarian cancer?

Ovarian cancer is cancer of the ovaries, the two organs in the female reproductive system that produce eggs. Most ovarian cancers occur in women over the age of 50 years. Due to the absence of symptoms in the early stages of the disease, the majority of patients are diagnosed when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

Ovarian cancer is a long-term debilitating and life-threatening disease that is associated with poor long-term survival.

What is the estimated number of patients affected by the condition?

At the time of designation, ovarian cancer affected not more than 3 in 10,000 people in the European Union (EU). This was equivalent to a total of not more than 154,000 people*, and is below the ceiling for orphan designation, which is 5 people in 10,000. This isbased on the information provided by the sponsor and the knowledge of the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP).

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*Disclaimer: For the purpose of the designation, the number of patients affected by the condition is estimated and assessed on the basis of data from the European Union (EU 28), Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. This represents a population of 512,900,000 (Eurostat 2015).

What treatments are available?

At the time of designation, several medicines were authorised in the EU for the treatment of ovarian cancer. The choice of treatment depended mainly on how advanced the disease was. Treatments included surgery and chemotherapy (medicines to treat cancer).

The sponsor has provided sufficient information to show that this medicine might be of significant benefit for patients with ovarian cancer because it works in a different way to currently authorised treatments and early studies showed that it might improve the outcome of patients whose disease had come back after previous treatment. This assumption will need to be confirmed at the time of marketing authorisation, in order to maintain the orphan status.

How is this medicine expected to work?

This medicine is made up of an ‘oncolytic’ virus called reovirus that it is able to target, infect and destroy cancer cells but does not infect normal cells. When inside a cancer cell, the virus is expected to take over the cell’s replication apparatus and use it to make more copies of itself. This is expected to kill the cell, leaving the virus to spread to neighbouring cancer cells.

What is the stage of development of this medicine?

The effects of the medicine have been evaluated in experimental models.

At the time of submission of the application for orphan designation, clinical trials with the medicine in patients with ovarian cancer were ongoing.

At the time of submission, the medicine was not authorised anywhere in the EU for ovarian cancer or designated as an orphan medicinal product elsewhere for this condition.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 141/2000 of 16 December 1999, the COMP adopted a positive opinion on 12 February 2015 recommending the granting of this designation.

Opinions on orphan medicinal product designations are based on the following three criteria:

• the seriousness of the condition;
• the existence of alternative methods of diagnosis, prevention or treatment;
• either the rarity of the condition (affecting not more than 5 in 10,000 people in the EU) or insufficient returns on investment.

Designated orphan medicinal products are products that are still under investigation and are considered for orphan designation on the basis of potential activity. An orphan designation is not a marketing authorisation. As a consequence, demonstration of quality, safety and efficacy is necessary before a product can be granted a marketing authorisation.

The Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products reviews the orphan designation of a product if it is approved for marketing authorisation.