BTG Launches Anabolic Steroid Oxandrin In The USA

Israeli firm BioTechnology General has made its first major US drug launch with Oxandrin (oxandrolone), an oral anabolic agent indicated as adjunctive therapy to promote weight gain in patients who lose weight after surgery, chronic infections or severe trauma. The drug is also indicated for treating idiopathic weight loss.

For reasons that remain unclear, many chronic and acute disease processes cause weight loss, including certain types of cancer, AIDS, burns, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal failure and sepsis. Regardless of the etiology, these can result in a depletion in lean body mass which can contribute directly to mortality if not stopped or reversed.

Distinct Profile Sim Fass, president and chief executive of BTG, noted that oxandrolone is the only orally-active anabolic steroid which is indicated for weight gain, and comes at a time when the serious nature and consequences of involuntary weight loss are becoming increasingly appreciated by the medical community. "In conjunction with proper diet and exercise, anabolic therapy may prove beneficial to hundreds of thousands of patients in the USA suffering from weight loss," commented Adrian Dobs, who is director of the Endocrinology Clinical Studies Unit at Johns Hopkins University in the USA.