FDA approves mifepristone for Cushing's syndrome.

Reuters (2/18, Yukhananov) reported the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Corcept Therapeutics's mifepristone [Korlym] to treat Cushing's syndrome.

        "The Food and Drug Administration cleared Korlym, formerly called Corlux, to treat the syndrome in patients who have Type 2 diabetes or glucose intolerance and aren't candidates for surgery or haven't responded to surgery, the agency said today in a statement," Bloomberg News (2/18, Edney) reported. The drug "is the first therapy approved for the hormone condition," the agency announced. "The illness, caused by too much exposure to the hormone cortisol, most often attacks adults 20 to 50 years old, according to the US National Institutes of Health. Symptoms include high-blood pressure, upper-body obesity and diabetes."

        "Mifepristone does not reduce cortisol production, but rather prevents it from binding to its receptor," MedPage Today (2/17, Gever) added. "Mifepristone is contraindicated in pregnant women" because "daily doses of mifepristone for Cushing's disease are in the same range as those used to induce abortion" so "the FDA is requiring a boxed warning that the drug will terminate a pregnancy." Common side effects associated with the medication are "nausea, fatigue, headache, joint pain, vomiting, edema in the hands and feet, dizziness, and poor appetite."