As a result, Teva Neuroscience, Teva’s US marketing subsidiary, will have sole responsibility for the marketing of Azilect in the US and Teva will no longer share profits from the sale of the drug.
Once-daily Azilect received approval from the FDA as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease both as initial monotherapy in early Parkinson’s disease patients and as adjunct therapy to levodopa in moderate-to-advanced stages of the disease. Teva said that the drug will be available in the US by the end of this month.
A global phase II study, in which the active ingredient of Azilect is used as an adjunctive treatment in Alzheimer’s patients treated with Eisai’s Aricept, was initiated in 2004 and is currently on-going.
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder. The exact cause of Parkinson’s disease is unknown, but is believed to be multifactorial, involving genes, environmental factors and aging.