Canada approves Teva's Azilect

Parkinson's Disease treatment Azilect is Teva's second ethical drug, after its MS treatment Copaxone.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) has announced that it has received approval from Health Canada for Azilect (rasagiline), its once daily oral treatment for Parkinson's disease.

The drug is approved for use as initial monotherapy in early Parkinson's disease and as adjunct therapy to levodopa in moderate to advanced disease. Azilect is expected to become available in Canada this September.

Teva said that approval for Azilect (also called Agilect) was based on data from three large, multicenter, multinational, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies.

"This is a key milestone for our company, but, more importantly, a significant new treatment option for the more than 100,000 Parkinson's disease patients and their families in Canada," said Teva Neuroscience Canada general manager Jon Congleton. "The approval of Azilect is another demonstration of Teva's continuing commitment to helping people cope with neurological diseases."

In May, Teva reported that it had received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the drug, and last month it reported that marketing had begun.

So far, Azilect has been made available in 19 countries.

Azilect is the second ethical drug developed by Teva. The first was multiple sclerosis treatment Copaxone.

Analysts estimate that sales of Azilect will amount to tens of millions of dollars in the first few years,rising to hundreds of millions by 2010.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 21, 2006

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006 According to Teva, global sales of drugs to treat Parkinson's disease reached about $3 billion in 2005.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 21, 2006

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006

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