Another delay for a long awaited drug

The introduction of Levadex has been delayed again, this time for a year. It seems like deja vu all over again – I wrote the same thing on this blog in April of last year. Levadex, which the manufacturer (Allergan) just renamed as Semprana, is an inhaler containing DHE. DHE, or dihydroergotamine is one of the most effective injectable drugs for migraine. It should be even better in an inhaled form because it works faster and causes much less nausea than the injection. The FDA is again delaying the launch because of manufacturing problems. Apparently, the particle size of the drug when it comes out of the inhaler is not uniform enough. Many patients are unhappy, but I am sure that the Allergan is very unhappy too since they spent almost a billion dollars to acquire this drug from a small company that developed it.