KemPharm announces corporate name change to Zevra Therapeutics

KemPharm announced that it changed its name to Zevra Therapeutics. This name change reflects the Company’s intensified focus and dedication to developing transformational, patient-focused therapies for rare diseases with limited or no treatment options. In conjunction with the name change, the Company will begin trading under the new ticker symbol "ZVRA" on The Nasdaq Global Market on or about March 1, 2023. In May 2022, Zevra, then KemPharm, acquired arimoclomol, an orally-delivered, first-in-class investigational product candidate for the treatment of Niemann-Pick type C disease, from Orphazyme A/S as part of the Company’s long-term vision to evolve into a commercially-driven rare disease therapeutics company. Through the acquisition, Zevra welcomed key new team members with years of valuable rare disease therapeutic research and development experience, maintained the ongoing early access programs and relationships with treatment centers in the U.S. and Europe, and continues to build upon longstanding partnerships within the NPC patient community. NPC, a rare disease with no currently approved treatments in the U.S., primarily affects children and is often fatal, causing progressive loss of brain, nerve, liver, spleen, bone marrow, and lung functions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted arimoclomol orphan drug designation, Fast Track designation, and rare pediatric disease designation for treating NPC. In addition to arimoclomol, Zevra is advancing KP1077, a product candidate based on Zevra’s prodrug of d-methylphenidate, serdexmethylphenidate, which is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 trial for the treatment of idiopathic hypersomnia, a rare sleep disorder. Pending the results from that trial, the Company plans to conduct a pivotal phase 3 study in IH, with the potential to study an expanded indication in narcolepsy. Zevra looks ahead to key milestones in 2023, including the resubmission of arimoclomol New Drug Application to the FDA as early as Q3 2023, an interim and final data readout for KP1077 in IH, and the potential achievement of certain commercial sales milestones for our partnered asset, AZSTARYS Along with the new name, the Company has a new logo and website.