Menarini is granted European rights to Adenuric®, innovative drug for chronic hyperuricaemia in gout.

Ipsen and Menarini announced today the signature of an agreement under which Ipsen, an innovation-driven international specialty pharmaceutical group, grants Menarini exclusive rights for 41 countries for Adenuric® (febuxostat), a novel treatment for gout.

Adenuric® is a molecule of Japanese origin, developed by Teijin Pharma Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.

The agreement covers the European Union, Eastern Europe including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, as well as Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Armenia and Georgia. Ipsen retains co-promotion rights for France.

Gout, a particularly painful condition, is the most common form of arthritis in men, caused by high levels of uric acid in the body. Crystals of monosodium urate are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons, and surrounding tissues and may lead to masses called ‘tophi’.
The condition is marked by painful attacks of acute arthritis and can eventually lead to chronic gouty arthritis.

In the absence of treatment, symptomatic chronic hyperuricaemia may become crippling and lead to a noticeable degradation in the quality of life linked to articular and/or renal impairment (lithiasis, nephropathy).

Adenuric® is the first product to be made available to patients after many decades without any substantial innovation in the treatment of hyperuricaemia in gout. This break-through product addresses a high unmet medical need.

Adenuric® has proven therapeutic superiority to allopurinol (the current treatment of choice in gout) and is also well tolerated by patients with mild and moderate renal impairment.

"Research in new treatments for gout has been absent for nearly forty years, making it an orphan disease in some respects” declared Dr. Alberto Aleotti, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Menarini Group “ We are therefore extremely proud that Ipsen has chosen Menarini as the ideal partner to substantially contribute to European patients’ health with an innovative drug in this therapeutic area".

Menarini expects to launch Adenuric® at the beginning of 2010. Menarini will also directly undertake to carry out further clinical research on the product.


October 20, 2009