Pill to prevent pre-eclampsia gets UK fast track for development

A new pill that could prevent pre-eclampsia has become the first pregnancy drug to be fast-tracked for development by the UK’s drug regulator.

Scientists at MirZyme Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, believe they have developed a drug that when given to women from 20 weeks of pregnancy could stop them developing the condition.

Pre-eclampsia endangers the lives of thousands of expectant mothers and their babies in the UK each year, and has no therapeutic options. Globally, it affects between 2% and 8% of pregnancies and kills up to half a million babies and 100,000 women a year.

MirZyme Therapeutics has been awarded an innovative licensing and access pathway (ILAP), or so-called innovation passport, by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The passport was established in January 2021 to expedite access to essential new drugs at the height of the Covid pandemic. It is granted to medicines that address the needs of patients with life-threatening and unmet medical needs, with a view to getting the drug to the market as quickly as possible.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 November 2022