CL's Xenazine HD drug launched in USA

UK-based Cambridge Laboratories, a privately-held specialty drugmaker, says that Xenazine (tetrabenazine) has been launched in the USA, to become the first and only product approved for the treatment of chorea associated with Huntington's disease.

Following the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of Xenazine in August, the product will be sold in the USA by local firm Ovation Pharmaceuticals through its 48-person sales force which is experienced in central nervous system disorders.

The launch follows the acquisition of Cambridge's original marketing partner, Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, by Biovail earlier this year (Marketletter September 22). Under the terms of the deal, Biovail will commercialize tetrabenazine in Canada (marketed as Nitoman). Biovail will also supply Xenazine to Ovation for a variable percentage of the product's net sales, and will in turn pay a supply price of 50% of net sales to Cambridge.