R-PR Divulges R&D Pipeline Developments

Rhone-Poulenc Rorer has revealed details of its product pipeline and further strategies for research at a meeting in Paris, on September 17. The news was well-received by the investment community, and the company's share price was boosted.

R-PR has reduced the number of research projects on which it is working from 50 to 26, to concentrate on what it sees as the more promising pharmaceutical compounds and to speed up the global registration process. It also aims to put 40 new targets through screening each year and to achieve the introduction of one or two New Chemical Entities from this group.

New Product Indications In oncology, indications of R-PR's flagship compound Taxotere (docetaxel) for solid tumors are to be extended to include head and neck, sarcoma and gastric cancers. These are all in Phase II or III trials. Also at this stage are studies for the first-line treatment of breast cancer and the second-line treatment of lung cancer. Taxotere will be launched in Japan in the near future for breast and non-small cell lung cancer.