VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for central nervous system (CNS) diseases, was granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA for the company’s PH94B neuroactive nasal spray for on-demand treatment of social anxiety disorder (SAD).
 
The FDA’s Fast Track process is designed to facilitate the development and review of new treatments for serious conditions with unmet medical need, with the goal of getting new treatment options to patients sooner. After successful Phase II development, VistaGen is preparing PH94B for Phase III development. PH94B has potential to be the first fast-acting, non-sedating, as-needed treatment for as many as 20 million individuals in the U.S. suffering from SAD. 

“The FDA’s grant of Fast Track designation for development of PH94B for SAD, which to our knowledge is the FDA’s first Fast Track designation for a SAD drug candidate, is another important regulatory milestone for VistaGen and a key step forward in our development program for PH94B as a new generation anxiolytic. With a high global prevalence of anxiety disorders, including SAD, the urgency for a new non-addictive, non-sedating, fast-acting, as-needed treatment for SAD and other anxiety disorders is more important now than ever before. Based on clinical studies to date, PH94B, at non-systemic microgram doses, has strong potential to fill the large current treatment gap,” said Shawn Singh, chief executive officer of VistaGen.