Under an agreement with Amgen, NPS is the exclusive representative of Kineret (anakinra) to rheumatologists in the US. In August 2004, NPS announced that it would promote Kineret and receive a percentage of incremental revenues from Amgen.
NPS has now partnered with Ventiv to recruit and train a dedicated sales force to provide the promotional effort for Kineret. Ventiv also provides NPS with recruitment, training, fleet services, data collection and management services through Total Data Solutions, and all product literature delivery and other non-personal promotion support through its Promotech division.
“Kineret is an important drug for rheumatoid arthritis patients who have failed to respond to anti-TNF therapies,” said Tom Heath, senior vice president of marketing and sales at NPS Pharmaceuticals.
“Our partnerships with Amgen and Ventiv are important steps for NPS as we make our debut into the pharmaceutical market place. We are pleased to have Ventiv, a market leader, assist us in creating a sales force to promote Kineret and to introduce our company to the rheumatology community.”