Alkermes plc announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Fast Track designation to nemvaleukin alfa (nemvaleukin), the company's novel, investigational engineered interleukin-2 (IL-2) variant immunotherapy, for the treatment of mucosal melanoma.

Earlier this year, the FDA also granted orphan drug designation to nemvaleukin for the treatment of mucosal melanoma. The company recently initiated enrollment in ARTISTRY-6, a global phase 2 trial evaluating the anti-tumour activity, safety and tolerability of nemvaleukin monotherapy in patients with melanoma who have been previously treated with anti-PD-(L)1 therapy. The study is evaluating intravenously administered nemvaleukin in patients with mucosal melanoma and subcutaneously administered nemvaleukin in patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma.

"Receiving Fast Track designation from the FDA for nemvaleukin for the treatment of mucosal melanoma is an important milestone for the nemvaleukin development program and underscores nemvaleukin's potential clinical utility to address an unmet medical need in this difficult-to-treat tumour type," said Craig Hopkinson, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Alkermes. "We are committed to advancing this important research in mucosal melanoma, a rare and aggressive form of melanoma for which there are very limited treatment options, particularly for those patients previously treated with checkpoint inhibitors."