SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare has launched its new topicalantiviral cream for the treatment of recurrent cold sores, Denavir (1% penciclovir), onto the US market. The drug is available on prescription, but SB is reportedly looking into switching it to over-the-counter status.
Denavir is the active metabolite of SB's Famvir (famciclovir), which is already approved in the USA for other herpes virus infections such as shingles and genital warts. It was first launched in the UK last year under the trade name Vectavir (Marketletter June 10, 1996).
...As Aciclovir Patent Expires Denavir is the first topical antiviral to be approved in the USA for this indication, and this uniqueness may shield it somewhat from the tussle which has ensued from the expiry of Glaxo Wellcome's patents for Zovirax (aciclovir) on April 23. Almost a dozen generic firms in the USA, including Novopharm, Mylan, Schein and Lederle, have already launched their own, discounted 200mg and/or 400mg capsule/ tablet formulations of aciclovir. Prices are likely to drop still further as the players jockey for position. Zovirax made sales of $488 million in the USA last year.
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