Abbott and Takeda set to launch first rival to Viagra after European

Abbott Laboratories and Takeda Chemical Industries have been grantedapproval from the European Medicines Evaluation Agency for a new centrally-acting drug for erectile dysfunction, the first product to take on Pfizer's Viagra (sildenafil) in the market for orally-active treatments for ED.

The apomorphine-based product, which will be marketed as Uprima by Abbott and as Ixense by Takeda, was scheduled to be launched in the Netherlands as this issue of the Marketletter went to press, with additional introductions in European Union countries targeted for June. Abbott and Takeda believe the new product offers a profile that will make it a strong competitor to Viagra, which achieved sales of $377 million in the first quarter of this year.

Uprima has a different mode of action than Viagra and is a potent stimulator of dopamine D1 and D2 receptors. It stimulates erections through mechanisms originating in the brain, in contrast to Viagra which acts locally in the penis by inhibiting phosphodiesterase 5, an enzyme involved in the erectile response. Injectable forms of apomorphine have a long history of use in other indications, such as the stabilization of Parkinson's disease patients experiencing problems with levodopa treatment, but the new product has made use of drug delivery enhancements to make it suitable for oral use in ED.