Grunenthal signs trimegestone licensing agreement for oral contraception
Aachen (ots)
The German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal announces its worldwide exclusive rights on trimegestone for the use in oral contraception by Aventis Pharma, SA, France, a subsidiary of sanofi-aventis. Thereby the firm extends its gynaecological pipeline. Trimegestone will be developed as a new oral contraceptive component derived from natural progesterone.
The agreement grants Grunenthal exclusive access to mainly preclinical data on trimegestone for the development of an oral contraceptive. Moreover it secures a mutually exclusive supply agreement: While Aventis Pharma, SA, holds the patent on the manufacturing synthesis process and provides for the production of the active ingredient trimegestone, Grunenthal will take care for the formulation, the clinical development, registration, and marketing.
"With the development of a trimegestone containing oral contraceptive Grunenthal shows its strong commitment to become a major player in the field of gynaecology in the mid term", says Prof. Dr. Eric-Paul Pâques, member of the Executive Board of Grunenthal."
About Trimegestone Trimegestone is a metabolically neutral & naturally derived progesterone agonist, thus long term acceptance for female users is expected. Due to its favorable metabolic safety profile trimegestone is already in use in hormone replacement therapy. In this respect trimegestone is an ideal progestogen to be used in hormonal contraception.
About Grunenthal Grunenthal is an expert in pain therapy and gynaecology and a pioneer in intelligent, user-friendly drug delivery technologies. Founded in 1946, the company employs 1,900 people in Germany and 4,800 worldwide. In 2006, Grunenthal achieved revenues of 813 million Euro.
Contact:
Contact:
Anke Krueger-Hellwig
Phone: +49 241 569-2858,
Fax: +49 241 569-1486,
anke.krueger-hellwig@grunenthal.com
Grunenthal GmbH,
52099 Aachen, Germany,
www.grunenthal.com