Shire Wins Novel Treatment Award from LDN  

The Lysosomal Disease Network (LDN) presented Shire Human Genetic Therapies (HGT) with its first ever Novel Treatment Award for VPRIV during its 9th Annual World Symposium held on February 14th. This new award will now be presented annually in recognition of new drugs or therapies that have made a considerable contribution in the area of lysosomal diseases.

“Shire has demonstrated its commitment to developing new therapies for the treatment of rare genetic diseases. We wanted to recognise the contribution of VPRIV for treatment of type 1 Gaucher disease by awarding Shire the first ever Novel Treatment Award,” said Chester Whitley, University of Minnesota and Principal Investigator, LDN. “As new treatments are developed, we want to be sure that these huge efforts and accomplishments are recognised in the hope of inspiring other young investigators and corporate developers. We hope that this award is a way of demonstrating this.”

VPRIV, an enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) used for the long-term treatment of patients with type 1 Gaucher disease, has been assessed in more than 100 patients at 24 sites in 10 countries, representing the largest and most comprehensive clinical data set to support registration for an ERT for type 1 Gaucher disease, according to the company.

“This award embodies the spirit of our organisation – every employee at Shire is dedicated to developing and bringing forward new products, services and support offerings which can make a positive impact on patients’ lives. Shire is proud to provide Gaucher patients with an effective treatment option and continues to build upon a solid foundation, established by our lysosomal enzyme replacement therapies, to further support rare disease patients around the world,” said Dr. Philip J. Vickers, Global Head of Research and Development, Shire HGT.