First Launch Of Rilutek, R-PR's ALS Drug

Rhone-Poulenc Rorer's innovative new drug Rilutek (riluzole) is now available for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also called motoneuron disease) in the USA. Rilutek represents the first treatment for ALS since this fatal, neurodegenerative disease was first described 127 years ago.

Rilutek is the first drug which has been shown to actually improve survival in ALS patients. In the absence of treatment, patients developing the disorder undergo a progressive and crippling weakness of the muscles, usually beginning on one side of the body, which ultimately results in paralysis and death (by respiratory failure) within three to five years. Rilutek has a modest but significant effect on survival - increasing it by around three months - according to the results of Phase III trials (Marketletter May 22, 1995).

Rilutek will be available on prescription as a 50mg tablet formulation to be administered twice daily. R-PR has set a selling price for the product at just under $600 per month, which it says reflects the level of investment in the drug's development and the small target patient population. Rilutek is an orphan drug - there are just 30,000 ALS sufferers in the USA, and approximately 70,000 worldwide.