InterMune's IPF drug Esbriet sees first European launch, in Germany

US biotech firm InterMune (Nasdaq: ITMN) has announced that Esbriet (pirfenidone) will be offered to patients in Germany beginning September 15, 2011. This will mark the first time Esbriet will be commercially available in Europe since it was approved by the European Commission in adults for the treatment of mild to moderate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a devastating and fatal lung disease (The Pharma Letter March 4).

"This first launch of Esbriet is an important occasion for patients in Germany and for InterMune," said Dan Welch, chairman, chief executive and president of InterMune. "For the first time, German patients with IPF will have access to a medicine proven to reduce the decline in lung function, offering a treatment where none existed previously. Our team in Germany is well staffed and trained, and fully committed to making Esbriet available to all appropriate patients as rapidly as possible and our entire organization is actively preparing to launch Esbriet throughout Europe beginning in the first half of 2012," he added.

$700 million EU sales forecast by 2015