The Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: CUV) share price has returned from its trading halt and is pushing higher on Tuesday afternoon.
At the time of writing, the biopharmaceutical company's shares are up almost 1% to $22.11.
Why is the Clinuvel share price pushing higher?
Investors have been buying the company's shares today following the release of an update on its Scenesse product.
Scenesse is the first treatment to provide erythropoietic protoporphyria patients (EPP) with protection from the wavelengths of light that cause phototoxicity. It reduces the number and severity of reactions and increases the amount of time that sufferers can be exposed to light.
Management notes that since the drug has been made available in Europe in 2016 and the United States in 2020, patients report that they have been given a freedom they never had imagined.
The good news for Australians with EPP, is that Clinuvel has just received approval for Scenesse to be prescribed in Australia. It will soon be listed on the Australian Therapeutic Goods Register following approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
The release explains that Scenesse will be registered for the indication prevention of phototoxicity in adult patients with EPP. It will be available as a prescription medication, to be administered by trained and accredited healthcare professionals.
In light of the latter, the company will implement a comprehensive training and accreditation program and ensure that healthcare professionals are provided with information in line with the Australian approval.
Clinuvel's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Dennis Wright, commented: "Our team is delighted that an Australian innovation is returning home as an approved drug and will be made available for Australian EPP patients."
"I recognise the work of patients, physicians, TGA staff and our team to facilitate today's outcome, which is the result of many years of engagement and dialogue. Our objective has been clear: to find ways to enable all EPP patients worldwide to access the first ever treatment for this disorder which is largely misunderstood but which causes patients a lifelong imprisonment, away from a normal outdoor life," he concluded.
