Santhera's Friedreich

Santhera Pharmaceuticals, a Swiss specialty pharmaceutical company focused on neuromuscular diseases, says that Health Canada has approved, with conditions, SNT-MC17/idebenone for the treatment of Friedreich's Ataxia. The decision marks the first marketing authorization worldwide for any drug for this rare disease. The new agent will be marketed in Canada under the brand name Catena. Santhera has established a wholly-owned local unit, recently incorporated in Montreal, Quebec, to address the needs of Canada's several hundred patients with this severely progressive muscle disease. Launch of Catena is anticipated for the end of October.