Florence, 2nd March, 2010

The Menarini Group lands in a New Continent

The Menarini Pharmaceutical Group has expanded its territorial coverage to include Australia by entering into a licensing agreement with CSL Biotherapies, Australian pharmaceutical company, for the provision of one of its prime products.

The product in question is Nebivolol, a cardio-selective, third generation beta-blocker, characterised by the capability to release nitric oxide. Nebivolol, a molecule developed by Menarini Research, suitable for the treatment of heart failure, is currently marketed in 72 countries.

In Australia there are 300.000 patients currently suffering from heart failure and 30.000 new cases are diagnosed each year.

The effect of Nebivolol was the subject of an in-depth study carried out by Nobel prize winner for Medicine, Luis Ignarro, who demonstrated the mechanism by which the nitric oxide in Nebivolol works, making it a ‘one in a kind’ drug.

The ‘Seniors’ study on the other hand has proven how the efficacy of Nebivolol, in the case of heart failure, is able to reduce the overall mortality rate due to cardiovascular conditions by 14%, and the number of cases of sudden death in patients affected by this condition by 39%.

It is thanks to qualities such as these that Nebivolol has earned itself a unique place in the new European Guidelines, where its distinguishing features compared to other beta-blockers have been highlighted, both in terms of efficacy and patient safety.