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Denmark's Lundbeck to Sell Budipine Parkinson's Drug in Europe Copenhagen, May 18 (Bloomberg) -- H~ Lundbeck A/S, Denmark's second-largest dragmaker, which is seeking an initial public offering by end-June, said it will sell budipine, a drag for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, in Europe from the year 2000. Lundbeck said it bought the European marketing rights to the drug from Gurmany's Byk Gulden CheI~sche Fabnk ~I-[ lindbeck has been selling budipine under the name of Parkinsan in Gurmany since 1997, and has a market share there of 4.5 percent. "We are very pleased that we succeeded in licensing the European rights to budipine," said ~ Spmnk-Jansen, Lundb¢ck chief executive, in a statement. "The licensing of new products, especially in neurology, is a signifgant part oflindbeck's strategy, and this agreement confirms our view that Lundbeck, because of its unique position in neurology products, is a very attractive partner." In recent years, landbeck the largest Danish dragmaker after Novo Nordisk A/S, has focused on developing and marketing drugs for the central nervous system such as the anti-depressant Celexa, which it began to sell in September last year in the U.S. through New York-based Forest Laboratories, Inc. As of April 16, Cele~a had a 7 percent U.S. market share ofallnew prescriptions for "SSRI" antidepressants, the most widely used type, and a 5.3 percent total U.S. market share for these drags. Budipine alleviates some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, such as tremors, muscle rigidity and akinesia, or slowness of movement. Luridbeck said last month it will sell 20 percent of the company before the end of June to raise up to 2.7 billion la-oner ($385 milieu) to fund research and marketing of new drags. The company reported 1998 sales of about 3.2 billion kroner, and net income of 313 million. The company spent 619 million kroner, or 19 percent ot;~ales, on research and development. May/18/1999 6:58