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Vifor Confident About Prospects For Pruritus Dialysis Drug Korsuva

Submissions Imminent In US and Europe

 
• By Kevin Grogan

Vifor CEO Stefan Schulze tells Scrip that an expanded deal with Korsuva developer Cara Therapeutics means the US biotech will not have to invest in a commercial organization as the Swiss firm will mobilize its well-established sales force to launch the treatment for dialysis patients with CKD-associated pruritus.

Dialysis
About 40% of dialysis patients suffer from moderate to severe pruritus • Source: Shutterstock

Vifor Pharma Group ’s goal of becoming a world leader in nephrology has moved closer with the expansion of its pact with Cara Therapeutics, Inc. of the US which extends the Swiss group's rights to Korsuva, the partners' soon-to-be filed therapy for dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP).

The deal, which could be worth up to $440m follows an alliance inked in 2018 in which the joint venture Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma Ltd. bagged the worldwide rights to the intravenous therapy Korsuva (difelikefalin) excluding the US, Japan and South Korea, as well in dialysis clinics run by Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (FMC) in the US

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