Under the agreement, Merck Sereno will co- market the product together with Bouchara Recordati, the group’s French subsidiary.
Recordati and Merck claim that the drug has the potential to be an effective new treatment for dyslipidemia, a condition characterized by altered levels of blood cholesterol and other lipids and associated with an increased risk for heart disease and stroke.
Results from the preclinical studies suggested that Pitavastatin induces a reduction in LDL-cholesterol and an increase in HDL-cholesterol.
It has been shown that pitavastatin is minimally metabolized by the enzymes of the Cytochrome P-450 family, enzymes that play a key role in the metabolism of many drugs, thus minimizing the potential risk for unpredictable responses to treatment or for interaction with drugs metabolized by this pathway.