US FDA expands use of Novartis drug for chronic skin condition

Oct 7 (Reuters) The US Food and Drug Administration has expanded the use of Novartis drug to treat adults with a chronic skin ​condition that causes recurring itchy welts, the ‌Swiss drugmaker said on Wednesday. The condition, called symptomatic dermographism, is a form of chronic hives in which scratching, rubbing or friction on the skin can trigger itchy welts. The approval ‌adds ​to momentum for the drug, ⁠remibrutinib, which investors have ⁠increasingly focused on after recent late-stage failures of the company s cholesterol drug pelacarsen and muscle-wasting disease therapy del-desiran increased scrutiny of its pipeline. • Remibrutinib, branded ​as Rhapsido, is the first FDA-approved treatment specifically for adults with symptomatic dermographism whose symptoms ⁠are not adequately controlled with ⁠antihistamines, Novartis said. • The approval expands the ​drug s use beyond chronic spontaneous urticaria, another common form ​of chronic hives for which it is already ‌approved in