Caliway Biopharmaceuticals (Caliway) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) to CBL-514 for Dercum's disease treatment. CBL-514 is a lipolysis injection that can reduce local subcutaneous fat by inducing adipocyte apoptosis, and is the first drug to receive both ODD and Fast Track designation for Dercum's disease treatment.

"Receiving Orphan Drug Designation and Fast Track designation from the U.S. FDA is a huge milestone in CBL-514 development. Moreover, of all Dercum's disease treatment studies, CBL-514 is by far the most advanced program with the clinical efficacy being proven to reduce the size of the painful lipoma by more than 50% significantly," said Vivian Ling, CEO of Caliway. "With these two designations, we look forward to accelerating CBL-514 clinical development, and becoming the first approved drug for Dercum's disease treatment with a 7-year marketing exclusivity."

Caliway has completed a Phase 2 study (CBL-0201DD, NCT05387733) to evaluate CBL-514's efficacy and safety in treating Dercum's disease last year. The study results demonstrated that after treating with CBL-514, 64.5% of painful lipomas showed dimension reduction of more than 50%, 38.7% of painful lipomas showed complete clearance, with pain being reduced by 4.7 point.

In January 2024, a placebo-controlled Phase 2b study (CBL-0202DD) to evaluate efficacy of CBL-514 for treating Dercum's disease has been approved by the U.S. FDA. The subject recruitment will be initiated in Q2 2024.