Helsinn and Angelini announce a license agreement for ALOXI® in Portugal
Lugano, Switzerland and Lisboa, Portugal (ots)
HELSINN HEALTHCARE SA, a Swiss pharmaceutical group, and ANGELINI FARMACÊUTICA, a Portuguese Pharmaceutical company, announce the signing of an agreement granting ANGELINI the exclusive License and Distribution rights for ALOXI® (Palonosetron hydrochloride) in PORTUGAL.
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® has been granted a centralized registration in Europe last March with 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.Nausea and Vomiting is still an important medical need for chemotherapy treated patients. Updated International guidelines such as the US National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) indicated ALOXI® as the treatment of choice for the prevention of acute and delayed nausea and vomiting due to moderately emetogenic chemotherapies.
"We are delighted to sign this new agreement with ANGELINI and extend our cooperation in Portugal to ALOXI®. We have enjoyed since a few years now a successful relationship with ANGELINI in this country", said Dr. Riccardo Braglia, Managing Director of HELSINN HEALTHCARE SA. "We look forward to strengthen our cooperation and to a successful introduction of ALOXI® to the medical community and to the patients".
"We are very pleased that ANGELINI FARMACÊUTICA has been chosen by HELSINN HEALTHCARE as the partner company for the launch in Portugal of ALOXI® within many other companies eager to in-licence this very innovative product " said Dr. Luigi Cianci, General Manager of ANGELINI FARMACÊUTICA. "This acquisition represents a major success for Angelini, following our strategic decision to enter into the Oncology Market. We are strongly committed to make of ALOXI® a major success and to achieve leadership in his Market Segment."
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. Since its availability in USA in September 2003, there are over a million and half successful uses of ALOXI®. The product showed to be effective in preventing both acute and delayed CINV in patients receiving emetogenic chemotherapies. 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 ANGELINI FARMACÊUTICA:
Angelini Farmacêutica is the fully owned Portuguese subsidiary of ACRAF International, an Italian Multinational Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Company involved in the Research, Development and commercialization of a full range of drugs and other healthcare products. Angelini Farmacêutica is organised with three business units (Ethical, OTC and Mass Market) and scored a turnover of about ¤ 39 million in 2004 achieving the 22nd position in the IMS ranking.
Contact:
HELSINN:
Rachid BenHamza, Ph.D.,
Head Business Unit Oncology & Supportive Care
Phone +41/91/985'21'21
E-Mail: info-hhc@helsinn.com
ANGELINI:
Luigi Cianci, General Manager,
Phone +351/21/414'83'00