TopoTarget set to launch Savene in EU

Danish biotechnology firm TopoTarget AS says that it is ready to launch its product Savene (dexrazoxane), an intravenous detoxifying agent given as an antidote following extravasation, two months after it was approved by the European Commission. The firm added that it will launch the product during its presentation at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, at the end of the month.

Savene is a catalytic inhibitor of the enzyme topoisomerase II, which is essentially for cellular proliferation and a target for anticancer chemotherapies. Studies have shown that the agent blocks the activity of anthracycline that has accidentally reached healthy tissue during treatment.

TopoTarget also said that Savene has been classified as an Orphan Drug by both the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the US Food and Drug Administration, and added that it would be marketed in the USA as Totect. Peter Buhl Jensen, the firm's chief executive, said that the product addresses the problem of potential extravasation caused by anthracycline-based chemotherapy.