About Us

We are a nimble rare disease therapeutics company with a proven record of bringing new therapies to patients.

Bringing life-changing therapeutics to people living with rare diseases

Vision Statement

To give every promising rare disease therapy candidate a fighting chance to reach patients and improve their quality of life.

Who We Are

We are a rare disease therapeutics company leading with science to make life-changing therapeutics available to patients with significant unmet needs. We involve key thought leaders, physicians, patients, care partners and advocacy groups in all of our clinical and regulatory development strategies.

With a keen understanding that drug development often requires creative solutions, we have the insight and expertise to forge new pathways to success that others have missed. By following the data without bias, our transparent narratives and common-sense perspective have successfully overcome complex development challenges to make much-needed therapies available to patients.

Nimble and dauntless, we push boundaries beyond what is thought to be possible and advance new therapies that have the potential to bring meaningful improvement to patients’ lives.

About Zevra Therapeutics

Nimble and determined, Zevra pushes boundaries beyond what is possible to advance new therapies that meaningfully improve patients’ lives.

The Zevra Story

Our Name

Zevra is Greek for zebra, the official symbol of rare disease. The idea came from the medical school adage, “when you hear hoofbeats, don’t expect a zebra,” meaning, illness is most likely caused by something common, not rare.

However, in a world of horses, we are paying attention to the zebras, people with rare diseases. In honor of our commitment, we named our company for them.

The distinct stripes of an individual zebra symbolize the many rare diseases represented by these patient communities.

To us, like the infinite, unique possibilities of a zebra’s stripes, we believe there are boundless pathways for therapeutics to achieve regulatory approval and reach people with rare diseases.

Our Background

From 2001 to 2004, Travis Mickle, Ph.D., led the team of scientists who invented Vyvanse^®, a first-of-its-kind prodrug to address issues with the treatments that were then available for attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).

Leveraging their experience and expertise, Dr. Mickle, and Christal Mickle, M.A., founded KemPharm, Inc., a company that developed unique prodrugs, including two commercial products, using its proprietary Ligand Activated Therapy^® technology platform.

After decades of experience in devising elegant prodrugs, the KemPharm team refocused their efforts on rare disease drug development and began to seek product candidates to treat rare diseases.

The company’s initial rare disease candidate was KP1077, an internally developed clinical-stage product candidate intended for the treatment of idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), a rare sleep disorder.

In May 2022, KemPharm acquired substantially all of the assets of Orphazyme, A/S, a Denmark-based company focused on neurological rare diseases, which included arimoclomol, a product candidate intended for the treatment of Niemann-Pick type C disease (NPC), and welcomed many of its team members, bolstering and expanding KemPharm’s development capabilities.

In February 2023, KemPharm became Zevra Therapeutics.