Progress At Sequus In 1995 Marked By Doxil Launch

Fiscal 1995 was a year of major progress for US company Sequus. At the start of the year the firm had sufficient cash to support operations for only a few months and no product approvals in the USA. By the end of the year it had almost $50 million in funding, had launched its proprietary anticancer product Doxil (liposomal doxorobicin) in the USA, had fielded its own US sales force, and had filed with the US Food and Drug Administration for its proprietary antifungal agent, Amphotec (liposomal amphotericin B).

Doxil was cleared by the FDA in November 1995 for use in the treatment of Kaposi's sarcoma in AIDS patients whose disease has progressed on prior combination chemotherapy, or in patients intolerant to such therapy. Sequus launched the product in the USA in the following month, according to its annual report for 1995.

The firm also commented that the European Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products unanimously recommended marketing authorization of Doxil in February this year (Marketletter February 26). Once approved, the product will be marketed as Caelyx throughout the European Union. The recommendation provides for the use of Doxil as both first-line and second-line treatment for AIDS-related KS in patients with low CD counts and extensive mucocutaneous or visceral disease.