Teva and Eisai halt US collaboration on rasagiline

Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Japanese drug major Eisai say that they have mutually agreed to end their May 2003 alliance to co-promote the former's Azilect (rasagiline) for Parkinson's disease in the USA.

As a result, Teva's US innovative product marketing subsidiary, Teva Neuroscience, will have sole responsibility for the marketing of Azilect in America, and Teva will enjoy the full financial benefits from the drug's sales. Since 2003, Teva Neuroscience has more than doubled its field presence in preparation for this launch and has demonstrated its capabilities in its neurological franchise through its sales efforts and significant success with Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection) for the reduction of relapses in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

As previously announced, once-daily Azilect received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for PD both as initial monotherapy in early disease patients and as adjunct therapy to levodopa in moderate-to-advanced stages of the condition.