Samaritan to sell Shire's Elaprase in Greece and Cyprus

Samaritan Pharmaceuticals, a Las Vegas, USA-based developer of innovative drugs, has signed a marketing and distribution agreement with the UK's Shire to sell Elaprase (idursulfase) for Hunter's disease, in Greece and Cyprus.

The drug was granted marketing authorization, for the long-term treatment of patients with Hunter's disease, by the European Commission in January. It is the first, and only, enzyme replacement therapy for Hunter's and was launched in the USA in July 2006.

Elaprase will be sold and distributed by Samaritan on a named patient basis until the pricing and the reimbursement of the drug is established in Greece and Cyprus, with the relevant regulatory authorities. Samaritan expects to launch it in both Greece and Cyprus by the beginning of second-quarter 2007.