EUSA's Rapydan OKed in 12 EU markets

Oxford, UK-based EUSA Pharma says that its Rapydan (70mg lidocaine/70mg tetracaine medicated plaster) has now received marketing authorization in Sweden, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Norway and Portugal following the completion of the European Mutual Recognition Procedure. Rapydan is the first anesthetic plaster to be approved in over a decade. It works faster than the current standard-of-care and provides high levels of efficacy in pain relief to children and adults requiring needle punctures and cannulations, the company claims.

It obtained regulatory marketing authorization in Sweden, the reference member state, in January 2007 and the company began launching Rapydan in other European Union countries starting early this year.

"Since the launch of Rapydan in Sweden in 2007, the plaster has been broadly received among the health care community," said Stefan Lundeberg, Pain Treatment Service, Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden. "The use of Rapydan has already widely impacted the relief of pain associated with needle punctures and cannulations, especially among children, throughout Sweden, and is a long-awaited addition to our pain relief armoury in the field of topical anesthesia," he added.