FDA, EMA to Consider Additional Drug Safety Test Results
In the first use of a framework allowing submission of a single application to the two agencies, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) have worked together to allow drug companies to submit a single application showing the results of seven new tests that evaluate kidney damage during animal studies of new drugs. The tests measure the levels of seven key proteins or "biomarkers" found in urine that can provide additional information about drug-induced damage to kidney cells, also known as renal toxicity.
The new biomarkers are KIM-1, Albumin, Total Protein, ß2-microglobulin, Cystatin C, Clusterin, and Trefoil Factor-3. For decades, both FDA and EMEA have required drug companies to submit the results of two blood tests, called blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine, to evaluate renal toxicity.
In addition to those tests, FDA and EMEA will now consider results from the seven new tests as part of their respective drug review processes. Although a decision by the sponsor to collect information using the new tests is voluntary, if collected, it must be submitted to FDA.
"The development of these and other biomarkers can result in important tools for better understanding the safety profile of new drugs," said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "We hope these biomarkers will lead to human tests that detect drug-induced kidney injury in people earlier than is now possible, and help health care professionals better manage potential kidney damage from drugs."
Woodcock added that such human tests could one day open the door to the approval of more powerful drugs, especially for diseases where renal toxicity currently prevents promising experimental drugs from being approved.
The project is the first in which a group of drug companies has worked together to propose and qualify new safety tests and then present them jointly to the FDA and EMEA for consideration. FDA and EMEA laid the groundwork for these specific joint-agency biomarker reviews in 2004 when they developed a framework called the "Voluntary Exploratory Data Submission" review process.