Vanda Pharmaceuticals Announces FDA Advisory Committee Meeting On November 14, 2013

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VANDA) (NASDAQ: VNDA) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified the company of the scheduling of a Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on November 14, 2013, for the review of Vanda's New Drug Application (NDA) for tasimelteon, proposed trade name HETLIOZ™, for the treatment of Non-24-Hour Disorder (Non-24) in the totally blind.  Vanda's tasimelteon NDA is currently under Priority Review by the FDA with an action target date under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA-V) of January 31, 2014.  

About Non-24-Hour Disorder
Non-24 is a serious, rare, and chronic circadian rhythm disorder characterized by the inability to entrain (synchronize) the master body clock with the 24-hour day-night cycle.  Non-24 affects a majority of totally blind individuals, or between 65,000 and 95,000 people in the U.S.  Non-24 occurs almost entirely in individuals who lack the light sensitivity necessary to entrain the master body clock in the brain with the 24-hour day-night cycle.  Most people have a master body clock that naturally runs longer than 24-hours and light is the primary environmental cue that resets it to 24 hours each day.  Individuals with Non-24 have a master body clock that is not reset, and continually delays, resulting in prolonged periods of misalignment between their circadian rhythms and the 24-hour day-night cycle, including the timing of melatonin and cortisol secretion.  As a result of this misalignment, Non-24 is associated with significant disruption of the sleep-wake cycle and impairments in social and occupational functioning, and marked subjective distress.  Currently there is no approved treatment for Non-24.  For more information on Non-24, please visit www.non-24.com.

About Tasimelteon
Tasimelteon is a circadian regulator in development for the treatment of Non-24.  Tasimelteon is a dual melatonin receptor agonist (DMRA) with selective agonist activity at the MT1 and MT2 receptors.  Tasimelteon aims to reset the master body clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), resulting in the entrainment of the body's melatonin and cortisol rhythms to align to the 24-hour day-night cycle.  The patent claiming tasimelteon as a new chemical entity extends through December 2022, assuming a 5-year extension to be granted under the Hatch-Waxman Act.  Tasimelteon has been granted orphan drug designation for the treatment of Non-24 from both the U.S. and the European Union.  Tasimelteon has not been approved by the FDA or any other regulatory authority.

About Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of products for the treatment of central nervous system disorders.  For more on Vanda, please visit http://www.vandapharma.com.  

Company Contact:
Jim Kelly
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.
(202) 734-3428
jim.kelly@vandapharma.com

Investor Contact:
Chad Rubin
Vice President
The Trout Group
(646) 378-2947
crubin@troutgroup.com

Media Contact:
Laney Landsman
Assistant Vice President
Makovsky
(212) 508-9643
llandsman@makovsky.com

SOURCE Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.