Almogran set for German launch soon?

Bayer is planning to launch Almogran (almotriptan), the antimigrainedrug developed by Spain's Almirall Prodesfarma, in Germany early this month, according to the Spanish firm. The German introduction follows the launch of the product in the UK in January and in Finland and Denmark in February by licensee Lundbeck. Almogran debuted in Spain last year (Marketletter August 21, 2000), and should also be launched shortly in Ireland, Norway and Sweden.

Almirall claims that Almogran offers the highest bioavailability among all the available triptan drugs for migraine, and has a fast onset of action, good tolerabil ity and a very low recurrence of headache. The Spanish firm also believes that the drug has "the most complete profile" amongst the triptan class, which should allow it to mount a strong challenge in what is a crowded market, currently dominated by GlaxoSmithKline's Imigran/Imitrex (sumatriptan). The triptan class is thought to have significant capacity for growth, however, with the overall migraine market forecast to reach over $3 billion in 2009, according to Datamonitor.