HELSINN and PHARMASWISS announce a license agreement for ALOXI® in Baltic States, Slovenia and some Eastern European Countries
Lugano, Switzerland, and Ljulubiana (ots)
HELSINN HEALTHCARE SA, a Swiss pharmaceutical group, and PHARMASWISS, a Pharmaceutical company based in SLOVENIA, announce the signing of an agreement granting PHARMASWISS the exclusive License and Distribution rights for ALOXI® (Palonosetron hydrochloride) in Slovenia, Baltic states, Croatia and other Ex-Yugoslavia countries.
ALOXI® is a strong and long acting antiemetic belonging to the second generation of serotonin (5-HT3) antagonists, the leading class for the prevention of nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy. ALOXI" showed a great efficacy during the acute and delayed phase after chemotherapy treatment vs other first generation 5-HT3s. The product is already commercialized in USA where over a million uses have been completed successfully. Last December the CHMP recommended ALOXI" approval in Europe 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.
There is still a medical need among cancer patients and the medical community to better prevent Nausea and Vomiting due to chemotherapy treatments. International guidelines are always updated with novelties to indicate the best treatments available for the medical community and in 2004 the 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.
"Helsinn is glad to enter for the first time into an agreement with PharmaSwiss", said Dr. Riccardo Braglia, Managing Director of HELSINN HEALTHCARE SA. "PharmaSwiss has a Group of companies with a significant record of successful marketing in ex Yugoslavian and Baltic countries and a good expertise in Oncology. We look forward to develop a long standing relationship specially within the Oncology franchise".
"The in-licensing of ALOXI® from Helsinn for most of its territories represents a significant development for PharmaSwiss." said Petr Nemec Chief Executive Officer. "For the first time, PharmaSwiss will own rights to a novel, proprietary compound in one of its core therapeutic areas, oncology. PharmaSwiss is exploring other avenues of cooperation with Helsinn, particularly in the therapeutic areas of oncological supportive care and clinical research."
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 at least 30 times higher receptor binding affinity than currently available compounds. There have 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 highly and 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 PharmaSwiss
PharmaSwiss S.A. is a 60 million Euro pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. PharmaSwiss operates in 5 EU countries (Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia) and in six other Eastern European countries (Albania, Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia-Montenegro). With over 200 employees, PharmaSwiss is an exclusive marketing agent and regional distributor for six research-based multinationals -- Astellas (formerly Fujisawa and Yamanouchi), Boots, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ferring, Ipsen and Wyeth
Contact person HELSINN: Rachid BenHamza, Ph.D. Head Business Unit Oncology & Supportive Care Phone +41/91/985'21'21 E-Mail: info-hhc@helsinn.com
Contact person PharmaSwiss: R. Stuart Swanson Area Manager, Member of Board Phone +386/31/693'200 E-Mail: office@pharmaswiss.co.yu