Thursday, August 31, 2006

Sanofi Aventis - Brooksby "bigs up" Acomplia in the UK


Sanofi-Aventis' UK MD says they have seen "strong demand" for new obesity pill Acomplia since its launch in Britain in late June.

Nigel Brooksby said that although NICE, which assesses the cost effectiveness of new drugs, was unlikely to give a verdict on Acomplia before the first half of 2008, many doctors were already eager to prescribe it.

"We're very pleased. The UK launch has certainly met our expectations," he said in a telephone interview. "The qualitative information we are receiving is that it is getting a very good reception."

Independent prescription data measuring the drug's uptake are not yet available.

More from Ben Hirschler at Reuters

Insider's view: Let's wait and see the "figures"!

Remember some (ex) Big Pharma CEO's think the UK market is a "dog"!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've not yet seen a script for acomplia. I believe the guidance to GPs is that acomplia is fourth line treamtment, behind diet & exercise, orlistat and sibutramine. And looking at the side effects in the SPC http://emc.medicines.org.uk/emc/industry/default.asp?page=displaydoc.asp&documentid=18283
it looks like it should stay there.

insider said...

Thanks for this Steve.

Do let PharmaGossip know more, as and when it happens.

I'm guessing you are a UK community pharmacist, right?