Almirall has licensed its triptan to Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc. in US and Canada

Almirall, the first Spanish multinational pharmaceutical company, based in Barcelona, announces today that it has granted a license to Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc. (a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson) in the US for the marketing and sales of its product Axert® (almotriptan malate tablets). Almotriptan is approved for the acute treatment of migraine in adults. Under the agreement, Ortho-McNeil’s sister company in Canada, Janssen-Ortho Inc. also obtains the marketing rights to the product.

Almotriptan, researched and developed by Almirall, was approved by the FDA in May of 2001 for the acute treatment of migraine headaches, with or without aura, in the USA. In clinical trials, almotriptan has been significantly more effective than placebo and as effective as sumatriptan, being also associated with a better tolerability and greater patient satisfaction. Also in the landmark recently published study of the triptan meta-analysis, authors stated that "… almotriptan 12.5 mg shows similar efficacy at 2 hours to sumatriptan 100 mg but better sustained pain-free response, consistency and tolerability".

Axert was originally launched in the USA in mid 2001 by the Pharmacia Corporation, under a licensing agreement from Almirall.

According to the National Headache Foundation (NHF), migraine headaches affect an estimated 32 million people in the U.S. In a survey conducted by the NHF, 80 percent of people with migraines reported severe or extremely severe pain during attacks and more than half of migraine attacks (58 percent) are severe enough to require bed rest. Despite these high levels of pain and functional disability, only about half of the people with migraines in the U.S. are diagnosed or receive any form of treatment.

Besides the United States, almotriptan is also marketed in 16 European countries through Almirall’s own affiliates or through strategic alliances with other partners and is under development in Japan.

Completion of the transaction, which is expected to occur during the second quarter of 2003, is subject to expiration of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

Almirall, the first Spanish multinational pharmaceutical company

The main aim of Almirall, a multinational pharmaceutical company with headquarters based in Barcelona (Spain), is to provide society with innovative drugs to combat discomfort and disease, thus helping to improve quality of life. To this end, it constantly devotes the maximum human and financial resources to researching new products.

The company’s main research fields fall within the areas related to the CNS, anti-inflammatory, atopic dermatitis, allergies and respiratory.

Strongly consolidated in the Spanish market, the company also has subsidiaries in Europe and Latin America and devotes continued efforts to strengthen its presence in other major markets through strategic licenses, as it is the case of US.