SOLVAY PHARMACEUTICALS EXPANDS CARDIOLOGY WITH OMACOR® FROM PRONOVA BIOCARE

12-Dec-2001

SOLVAY PHARMACEUTICALS (BELGIUM) announced today the signing of a licensing agreement with PRONOVA BIOCARE (NORWAY) for the highly concentrated omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) product OMACOR®. OMACOR® is registered for adjuvant treatment in secondary prevention after myocardial infarction, in addition to reference treatments (including statins, antiplatelet drugs, betablockers, ACE inhibitors), as well as for primary treatment of the raised fat levels in the blood known as hypertriglyceridaemia.

OMACOR® is one of the few products indicated for the secondary prevention of MI, and it can save lives. There are convincing results from a largeoutcomes-study involving more than 11000 people, where OMACOR® has been demonstrated to lower the death rates. OMACOR® use after a first heart attack resulted in a 20 % reduction in total mortality, a 30 % reduction in cardiovascular deaths and a 45 % reduction in sudden deaths. There were no reports of serious adverse event related to the treatment, and only very few and only minor unwanted effects.

OMACOR® is registered and licensed to SOLVAY PHARMACEUTICALS for the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. SOLVAY PHARMACEUTICALS will sell OMACOR® in soft gelatine capsules as a prescription-only product.

Dr. Joachim Wegener, head of the Cardiology Global Product Strategy department at SOLVAY PHARMACEUTICALS said, "OMACOR® is an attractive addition to our cardiology product portfolio and fits perfectly with our global marketing approach. In the countries mentioned our activities are currently focused around the modern anti-hypertensives, TEVETEN® (eprosartan) and PHYSIOTENS® (moxonidine). Treating raised blood pressure is known to lower the incidence of cardiovascular mortality and morbidity and now OMACOR® treatment shares these effects while working in quite different ways. Cardiovascular mortality and morbidity are major causes of health concern, and increase as populations age".

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/6566/solvay-pharmaceuticals-expands-cardiology-with-omacor-from-pronova-biocare.html