Finland's Orion creates new Parkinson drug
By Katja Heinonen
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000907/l074779.html
HELSINKI, Sept 7, 2000 (Reuters) - Finnish pharmaceuticals group Orion
said on Thursday it was developing a new drug for Parkinson's disease
which could be available in 2004 and had signed a marketing deal with
Swiss group Novartis Pharma AG.
Orion said the new drug combined three active substances, levodopa,
carbidopa and entacapone, in one tablet.
Orion, a niche player and developer of proprietary drugs which launched
entacapone two years ago, currently sells that drug under the trade
names of Comtess and Comtan. It is Orion Pharma's leading product.
"Orion believes that the development process of the triple combination
will be facilitated by the fact that all three compounds are already on
the market and used concurrently in clinical practice," Orion said in a
statement.
Currently, the most effective and widely used treatment for the
Parkinson's disease is levodopa, but Orion said the compound tablet
would clearly ease the dosing of medication and increase the sales
potential of entacapone.
"We believe that the new combination drug (...) will speed up combining
entacapone treatment with levodopa treatment," Orion Pharma's Chief
Executive Jyrki Mattila told Reuters.
Orion said the world market for drugs to treat Parkinson's disease
totalled $1.6 billion in 1999, while entacapone sales were $27 million.
Mattila declined to say how much sales could increase with the new drug.
Orion said it aimed to submit applications for marketing approvals to
the European Union and U.S. drug authorities during 2002, with
registrations anticipated in 2003 and launches and full global sales
rolling out in 2004.
Orion also said it and Novartis, which is already its marketing partner
for Comtan, had signed a marketing agreement for the new drug.
Orion said that Novartis was due to make an upfront payment of $15
million upon the signing of the agreement, with further milestone
payments falling due as the global registration process advanced.
Mattila declined to give any further details about future payments.
Orion said its Pharma unit would have exclusive rights to market the new
product in Germany, Britain and Ireland, the Nordic countries, the
Baltics and in some other areas.
It would also retain the option to co-promote or co-market with Novartis
the product in the United States, France, Spain, Italy and ten other
countries.
Novartis would have exclusive rights to market the drug in the rest of
the world, except for Japan, which was not covered by the agreement, it
added.
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