Helsinn and Galencia announce a license agreement for Aloxi (Palonosetron) in Greece
LUGANO, SWITZERLAND, and Athens, GREECE (ots)
HELSINN HEALTHCARE SA, a Swiss pharmaceutical group, and GALENICA, a Pharmaceutical company based in Greece, announce the signing of an agreement granting GALENICA the exclusive License and Distribution rights for ALOXI® (Palonosetron hydrochloride) in GREECE.
ALOXI® is the second generation of serotonine (5-HT3) antagonists, the leading class for the prevention of nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy. ALOXI® has the special features of a strong and long lasting activity demonstrated in several clinical trials worldwide and a successful use in USA since September 2003.
In Europe the CHMP recommended ALOXI® approval for the following indications:
- the prevention of acute nausea and vomiting associated with highly emetogenic cancer chemotherapy, and
- the prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with moderately emetogenic cancer chemotherapy.
ALOXI® is registered and successfully marketed in USA by Helsinn's licensee MGI Pharma. The sales achieved a total of $ 159 millions in 2004, fifteen months after its launch, with over a 1 million uses of the products. Antiemetic guidelines such as the 2004 US National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines indicated ALOXI" as the treatment of choice for the prevention of acute and delayed nausea and vomiting due to moderately emetogenic chemotherapies.
"We are progressing with our European strategy to find the best partners and we are glad to count GALENICA in Greece among them", said Dr. Riccardo Braglia, Managing Director of HELSINN HEALTHCARE SA. "GALENICA is a leading pharmaceutical company with a strategy to offer the best oncology treatment and supportive care product to the Greek patients. We look forward to a successful cooperation".
"In line with our longstanding strategy of heavily investing in research products in order to have a pronounced contribution in therapeutics and thus capture a leading position in the acknowledgement of Greek physicians, we are pleased to conclude such an important collaboration with HELSINN" said Dr Denis Varelas, Managing Director of GALENICA s.a. "After all it was a long lasting relationship with HELSINN that finally materialized as a business collaboration for Aloxi®."
About Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting (CINV)
CINV is estimated to affect 85% of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and can result in a delay or discontinuation of chemotherapy treatments. The supportive care area is becoming of paramount importance to help patients deal with adverse events of anticancer therapies. With good supportive care drugs, cancer patients are able to tolerate the anti-cancer treatment to a greater extent, improving their chances of completing their treatment course successfully with a better quality of life.
About ALOXI®
ALOXI® is a selective 5-HT3-receptor antagonist, developed for the prevention of CINV, with a long half life of 40 hours and up to 30 times higher receptor binding affinity than currently available compounds. There has been over 2,800 patients treated during the phase 3 clinical trials and over 1 million uses after its commercialization in USA. ALOXI® is effective in preventing both acute and delayed CINV in patients receiving moderately emetogenic chemotherapy, the most common chemotherapy regimens used in the treatment of cancer. For more information about this product please visit our website: www.palonosetron.net and www.aloxi.com.
About HELSINN HEALTHCARE
HELSINN HEALTHCARE SA is a privately owned pharmaceutical group with headquarters in Switzerland and is the worldwide licensor of ALOXI®. HELSINN's core business is the licensing of pharmaceuticals in niche therapeutic areas. The company's business strategy is to in-license early-stage new chemical entities and complete their development from the performance of pre-clinical/clinical studies and CMC development to the attainment of market approvals in strategic markets (U.S. and Europe). HELSINN's products are eventually out-licensed to its marketing partners for distribution. The active pharmaceutical ingredients and the finished dosage forms are manufactured at HELSINN's cGMP facilities and supplied worldwide to its customers. For more information about HELSINN, please visit www.helsinn.com.
About GALENICA
GALENICA S.A. is a privately owned pharmaceutical company, based in Athens, Greece. It holds a leading position among the Hellenic Pharmaceutical companies in terms of sales volume. It is the first Greek Company focusing on marketing licensed-in ethical products, pioneering in this vision since its foundation. For more information about GALENICA please visit www.galenica.gr.
Contact HELSINN: Rachid BenHamza, Ph.D. Head Business Unit Oncology & Supportive Care. Phone +41/(0)91/985'21'21 E-Mail: info-hhc@helsinn.com
GALENICA: Pantelis Kapodistrias, Director Pharma (Ethicals) Phone +30/(0)210/528'18'04 E-Mail: pharma@galenica.gr