<font color=green>Dimethaid's Pennsaid chosen for Italian Olympic team
2004-04-19 09:45 ET - News Release
An anonymous director reports
CANADIAN ANTI-ARTHRITIC LOTION HEADED FOR ATHENS OLYMPICS
Italy's National Institute of Sport Medicine has selected Pennsaid -- an antiarthritic lotion invented by Dimethaid Research -- to support its Olympic team in Athens this August. The prescription drug will be available, free of charge, to the approximately 500 athletes, technicians and coaches who make up the Italian contingent.
Pennsaid has been approved in Italy and several other European countries as a treatment for osteoarthritis symptoms in superficial joints including the knee. During the XXVIIIth Games, it will be distributed through the Italian medical assistance service operating inside the Olympic village.
"Becoming an Olympic product of choice is a nice milestone, and we are honoured to meet the team's special request," said William Garrow managing director of Italchimci SpA, the company distributing Pennsaid in Italy. "It shows how Pennsaid awareness is growing within the medical community, not just among rheumatologists but sports doctors as well."
Pennsaid went on sale last June in Italy and Malta where it is marketed against a variety of topical and oral painkillers. The product's active ingredient -- a popular nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) -- is permitted under international sports rules, but spreading on Pennsaid leads to less than 1 per cent of the exposure caused by competing pills, greatly reducing the risk of serious side effects. The most common complaint is mild, dry or irritated skin at the application site.
To date, Pennsaid remains the world's only topical NSAID to be backed by an extensive clinical trials program. Research findings, presented at the European Congress of Rheumatology in June, 2003, showed the Canadian-developed lotion works as well as the maximum daily dose of comparable oral medication, but with a superior safety profile.
Pennsaid is manufactured at Dimethaid's plant in Varennes, Que. It is available by prescription in Canada and the United Kingdom -- as well as over-the-counter in the Caribbean -- and is scheduled for launches in Greece and Portugal later this year.
About Italchimici
Italchimici SpA is a private pharmaceutical company headquartered in Pomezia, Italy, near Rome. The company has over 105 sales representatives detailing general practitioners and specialists with a therapeutic focus on gastroenterology, rheumatology and respiratory conditions. As part of a European pharmaceutical alliance, Italchimici has the marketing expertise to address local payment and reimbursement systems, prescribing habits, attitudes, culture and language. For more information, please visit www.italchimici.com.
WARNING: The company relies upon litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements. |
