Acid sphingomyelinase deficiency (ASMD) is a progressive lysosomal storage disease caused by autosomal recessive pathogenic variants in the SMPD1 gene encoding acid sphingomyelinase (ASM). In a recent study, researchers from Albert Einstein College of Medicine aimed to assess the levels of plasma lyso-sphingomyelin, a deacylated form of sphingomyelin, in patients with ASMD pre- and post-treatment with olipudase alfa (recombinant-human acid sphingomyelinase).
Five months after winning its first approval in Japan, Sanofi SA’s enzyme replacement therapy, Xenpozyme (olipudase alfa), earned a U.S. FDA nod for use in pediatric and adult patients with acid sphingomyelinase deficiency (ASMD), becoming the first medication designed to treat symptoms not related to the central nervous system.
Sanofi SA’s enzyme replacement therapy, Xenpozyme (olipudase alfa), has been approved for use in Japan, making it the world’s first and only approved therapy to treat acid sphingomyelinase deficiency (ASMD), also known as Niemann-Pick type B disease. Sanofi’s executive vice president and global head of R&D, John Reed, hailed it as a “watershed moment” that was the culmination of 20 years of research.
