First Launch For P&U's Edronax

As expected, Pharmacia & Upjohn launched its new antidepressant Edronax(reboxetine) in the UK in July (Marketletter July 7). This is the first world market for the product, a selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor. The National Health Service price of a month's supply of Edronax is L19.80 ($32.96) per 60x4mg tablet pack, which is in line with many of the other newer antidepressants, including Eli Lilly's Prozac (fluoxetine).

This is the third New Chemical Entity introduction for the firm in this quarter after Mirapex (pramipexole) for Parkinson's disease and Rescriptor (delavirdine) for HIV (Marketletters passim); new products are key if P&U is to pull itself out of its current slump (see page 2). The firm has also recently launched the cytomegalovirus retinitis drug Vistide (cidofovir), licensed from Gilead, in its first three European markets; the UK, France and Germany.