(Reuters) - A European Medicines Agency (EMA) panel recommended the approval of Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen's drug, guselkumab, for the treatment of plaque psoriasis in adults.
Guselkumab, which will be marketed as Tremfya, will be used to treat adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, a chronic, autoimmune inflammatory disorder that results in sometimes painful, unsightly scaly and inflamed patches on the skin.
The EMA's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CMPH) said the drug's benefits were its ability to inhibit the inflammation and clinical symptoms associated with the disorder.
CMPH's opinions are normally endorsed by the European Commission within a couple of months.
The drug, which Janssen had licensed from German biotech group Morphosys, got the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's blessing in July.
The drug is administered by injection and will be an alternative for patients who do not respond to existing treatments, Janssen had said.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and additional reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
