First Launch For Naratriptan

Glaxo Wellcome's new migraine drug Naramig (naratriptan) has beenlaunched in its first market, the UK. The 5-HT1 agonist comes in packs of six 2.5mg tablets at a National Health Service price of L24 ($39). One 2.5mg tablet will treat "the vast majority of attacks," according to GW.

The company has priced Naramig exactly in line with Zeneca's Zomig (zolmitriptan), which was launched in the UK last month (Marketletter April 14). Both new drugs are expected to make headway against the first drug in this class, GW's Imigran (sumatriptan), which made sales of $539 million in 1996.

Both naratriptan and zolmitriptan are longer-acting and associated with a lower incidence of headache recurrence than sumatriptan, and also boast fewer side effects (Marketletter March 17). There seems to be little to differentiate the two new drugs, so their relative success will depend on the outcome of the expected marketing battle. Either way, analysts are predicting healthy sales, at around $500 million for naratriptan and $350 million for zolmitriptan by 2000.