First Launch Of SciClone's Zadaxin In China

SciClone Pharmaceuticals has launched its first product, Zadaxin (thymosin alpha 1), in the People's Republic of China as a treatment for chronic hepatitis B. This is the first introduction for the product worldwide. The company said it would launch the drug in its other approved markets, Singapore and the Philippines, "very shortly."

Clinical data from the hepatitis B trials were presented by Wang Baoen, president of the Chinese Society of Hepatology, at the biennial National Meeting of Liver Diseases in Wuhan, China, in November.

Response Rates Encouraging Prof Wang presented data on 150 patients who received either Zadaxin (n=96) or Zadaxin plus interferon alpha (n=54) at 13 medical centers throughout China. Responders were defined as those patients whose hepatitis B virus DNA and hepatitis B e-antigen levels were undetectable after six months' treatment. Zadaxin was given at a dose of 1.6mg, subcutaneously, twice a week, while interferon alpha was given at a dose of 3 million units, intramuscularly, three times a week. The results are given in the accompanying table.