S-P UK launches Bridion on local market

Schering-Plough UK, a division of the US drug major, has launched Bridion (sugammadex; Marketletters passim) injection for the routine reversal of muscle relaxants, on its local market.

The firm says Bridion can reverse any level of neuromuscular blocking with rocuronium and vecuronium within around three minutes (rocuronium - median time 2.7 minutes, range 1.2-16.1 minutes; vecuronium - median time 3.3 minutes, range 1.4-68.4 minutes). The drug creates the opportunity for anesthesiologists to maintain optimal muscle relaxation to the end of a surgical procedure and to reverse the block in minutes, noted the UK subsidiary of the New Jersey-based drug major.

"We are delighted to have brought Bridion to the medical community, it is the first new class of drugs in anesthesia medicine [selective relaxant binding agents] in the last two decades and we look forward to seeing the contribution that it will make to clinical practice," said general manager Gordon Coutts. "Bridion is the result of innovation in British-based research and development. It is exciting that the award-winning Schering-Plough Bridion research team will be able to see it launched in the same country where it was developed," he added.