First Launches For Yewtaxan Paclitaxel

A new product based on the taxane anticancer drug paclitaxel, developedby Yew Tree Pharmaceuticals, has now been launched in South Africa, and will soon be available in the Netherlands. Yew Tree is jointly owned by Norwegian firm Nycomed and the Dutch OPG Group.

Called Yewtaxan, the new product has been submitted for approval in certain non-European Union countries, and will be submitted for EU multistate registration "as soon as possible," according to Nycomed. Nycomed holds marketing rights to the drug in all European countries except the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

In the USA, Bristol-Myers Squibb still has exclusivity to paclitaxel (sold as Taxol) even though it is not patented, although competition from IVAX and others could be in the offing by the end of the year (Marketletter April 7). Taxol made sales of over $800 million in 1996.