Specialty pharmaceutical company Veloxis Pharmaceuticals Inc, an Asahi Kasei company, announced on Tuesday that it has received approval from the United States Adopted Name (USAN) Council for the non-proprietary (generic) name 'pegrizeprument' for its lead transplant candidate, VEL-101, a novel investigational maintenance immunosuppressive agent.

The company said that adopting pegrizeprument ensures consistent and reliable drug identification, helping to reduce medication errors, enhance patient safety and streamline drug identification for healthcare providers. This new generic name also highlights the importance of international drug recognition – ensuring clarity across markets regardless of the brand name under which the drug is intended to be marketed.

Pegrizeprument is a pegylated monoclonal monovalent antibody fragment that binds to and blocks CD28-mediated effector-T cell costimulation, without blocking CTLA-4, an important protein found on T cells that naturally helps keep the body's immune responses in check.

Tunde Otulana, MD, Veloxis chief medical officer, said: "The adoption of the name pegrizeprument marks another key milestone for our innovative investigational immunosuppressive therapy as we prepare to move to the next phase of development. It reinforces our dedication to developing innovative therapies to improve the lives of transplant recipients worldwide."