UK Launch For Astra's Ropivacaine

Astra has launched its local anesthetic Naropin (ropivacainehydrochloride) onto the UK market, where it becomes the first new drug of this type to be made available in 15 years. Naropin is described as an analgesic anesthetic with dose-dependent specificity for surgical anesthesia/acute pain management and motor blockade, with reduced potential for central or cardiovascular toxicity compared to Astra's leading anesthetic bupivacaine.

Astra believes that ropivacaine represents a significant advance in obstetrics, the sector which has been driving growth in the anesthesia market in recent years, because at low doses it offers selective action on the sensory nerves and is able to block pain with less effect on mobility than other anesthetics. This means that mothers can participate more actively in childbirth if they have an epidural with ropivacaine compared to the current market leader, bupivacaine, and are not impaired in their ability to push during delivery.

During continuous epidural infusion, motor block induced by ropivacaine rapidly subsides, in contrast to bupivacaine, with which motor block persisted for several hours post-infusion.