Nordisk and Sciele sign marketing deal

Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk and US drugmaker Sciele Pharma have signed an exclusive agreement, under which the latter will market the former's drug Prandin (repaglinide) in the USA. The product is indicated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes by both the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA; Marketletters passim).

The agreement also transfers marketing rights to Nordisk's PrandiMet (repaglinide plus metformin), which is currently in development and is yet to be cleared by the FDA, in addition to providing Sciele with options to sell several other of the Danish company's products that contain repaglinide. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Nordisk's president, Martin Soeters, commented that the partnership would allow the firm to concentrate on bringing its entire portfolio of insulin analogs to US health care providers and diabetics. Patrick Fourteau, Sciele's president, echoed these thoughts and added that Prandin "fits well within [Sciele's] product portfolio and will be an excellent complement to Fortamet [metformin HCl]."