Almotriptan receives approval to be sold in Canada
New success in the Spanish pharmaceutical industry thanks to Almirall
ALMOTRIPTAN RECEIVES APPROVAL TO BE SOLD IN CANADA
·Canada has a market of 63 million dollars annually(1) and is ranked the fourth in the worldwide market for triptans.
·With this launch, Almirall will be available in 9 out of the 10 major markets worldwide for medicines for the treatment of migraines.
Almotriptan, a medicine which was entirely researched and developed by Almirall, has received the approval of the Health Products and Food Brands, the Canadian health agency, for the treatment of migraines.Almotriptan has thus become Almirall's first internally researched and developed product to be approved by the Canadian health authorities.
The approval of almotriptan in Canada opens the door to the sale of this molecule in that country whose market, which totals 63 million US dollars annually (World Review 2002), is ranked the fourth in the worldwide triptan market.
The launch of almotriptan in Canada will be undertaken under the trademark Axert by Janssen-Ortho Canada, a company belonging to the Johnson & Johnson group, which is also responsible for marketing the product in the USA.
With this new launch of almotriptan, which will be available in the Canadian market at the beginning of 2004, Almirall will be present in 9 out of the 10 major markets worldwide for the treatment of migraine, among them the USA, the United Kingdom and France.
Almotriptan has been recognised by experts around the world as a first therapeutic option for the treatment of migraines.The launch of Axert (almotriptan) in Canada is an important contribution to the arsenal of therapies that will help to improve the quality of life of migraine sufferers in that country.
Almotriptan, a milestone in the Spanish pharmaceutical industry
Almotriptan is a medicine that was totally researched and developed by Almirall, which invested more than 90 million euros and eight years of work on it.In the year 2000, it obtained the approval of the European Medicine Evaluation Agency – through the Mutual Recognition procedure – to be sold simultaneously in 16 European countries by Almirall's affiliates or through strategic alliances with other companies.
In 2001 it received authorisation from the Food and Drug Administration, the highest health care regulatory body in the United States, to be sold in the USA, making it the first Spanish medicine to receive this approval.Currently, Almirall is working to initiate clinical studies with almotriptan in Japan in the near future.
(1) Data from World Review 2002
Migraines
Migraine is a common illness which is highly disabling and which has been classified by the World Health Organisation as a major public health problem.Despite this and the availability of effective treatments, it continues to be an illness that is poorly recognised and under-diagnosed, and which in many cases does not receive the proper pharmacological treatment.
Almirall
The main aim of Almirall, the first Spanish pharmaceutical multinational, is to provide society with innovative drugs to combat discomfort and disease, thus helping to improve health and 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 are those areas related to the treatment of asthma, bronchitis, allergies, atopic dermatitis, arthritis and gastrointestinal disorders.
The company plans to invest in R&D around 490 million euros in the next five years, and the total sales forecasts for 2003 are projected to reach 946.7 million euros. Its estimated staff for 2003 is of 3,256 people, of whom 532 are related to R&D activities.
The company also has five research centres and six manufacturing plants, as well as branch offices in the main cities of Spain and subsidiaries in Europe and Latin America.
Its annual production forecast for this year is over 94 million units, and products resulting from its own R&D are marketed in over 80 countries around the world.