The first therapies for several rare diseases were among medicines given the green light by European regulators at their monthly meeting. The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) gave a positive opinion for Sanofi SA’s Xenpozyme (olipudase alfa) for two types of Niemann-Pick disease and Eiger Biopharmaceuticals Inc.’s Zokinvy (lonafarnib) for children with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome or progeroid laminopathies. PTC Therapeutics Inc.’s Upstaza (eladocagene exuparvovec), the first medicine for adults and children with aromatic L-amino decarboxylase deficiency, was also backed by the CHMP.

Biogen Inc. has given up on its attempt to get its Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm (aducanumab) approved by regulators in Europe, deciding to withdraw its filing midway through a review of a previous rejection. The company had asked the European Medicines Agency’s CHMP to reconsider its negative opinion for Aduhelm in December 2021. But its subsidiary in the Netherlands wrote to the EMA this week saying that it had decided to withdraw its marketing authorization application after all.

Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos, Inc.’s CAR T-cell therapy, Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), looks set for approval in Europe after endorsement by regulators for advanced multiple myeloma. At its monthly meeting, the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended Carvykti for adults with relapsed and refractory disease who have received at least three prior therapies and whose cancer has worsened since their last treatment.