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Biotech / Medical : Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (328)	10/18/1999 10:32:00 AM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1169

just some interesting stuff re. markets and market size....... Monday October 18, 8:09 am Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ICN Pharmaceuticals Says REBETOL(R) Sales Commenced in Italy for Use in Combination with Interferon alfa-2b for Chronic Hepatitis C Commercial Availability of New Treatment Continues to Expand in European Union NEW YORK, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: ICN - news) said today that its licensing partner Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP - news) has commenced sales in Italy of its REBETOL® (ribavirin) Capsules for use in combination with Schering-Plough's interferon alfa-2b injection for the treatment of both relapsed and previously untreated chronically infected hepatitis C patients. Sales in Italy of REBETOL® follow its launch in Germany and the United Kingdom earlier this year. Italy has one of the highest rates of hepatitis C prevalence in the European Union, and the country historically has been the largest commercial market for hepatitis C treatments in the EU. The European Commission's approval of REBETOL® in May resulted in a single Marketing Authorization with unified labeling that is valid in all 15 European Union member States. ''The continued expansion of this new therapy in the European Union is good news for patients with hepatitis C,'' said Milan Panic, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ICN Pharmaceuticals, which discovered ribavirin (ICN's trademark VIRAZOLE®). ''Proven to be substantially more effective than previous treatment options, combination therapy has become the treatment of choice in both Europe and the United States.'' As many as five million people in Western Europe are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus, according to the World Health Organization. The infection is the leading cause of liver disease in Western Europe and the most common reason for liver transplant. Schering-Plough has exclusive worldwide rights to market oral ribavirin for hepatitis C under a license from ICN. Ribavirin is a synthetic nucleoside analog with broad-spectrum antiviral activity, currently marketed by ICN as VIRAZOLE® in a variety of other dosage forms for at least one of 10 indications in 44 countries. In the United States, Schering-Plough markets REBETRON(TM) Combination Therapy containing REBETOL® (ribavirin, USP) Capsules and INTRON® A (interferon alfa-2b, recombinant) Injection for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. It also markets the combination therapy in Canada and Argentina. Some four million Americans are infected with the hepatitis C virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP). ICN manufactures and markets a broad range of prescription and non-prescription pharmaceuticals and biotechnology research products in over 90 countries. The company employs some 13,000 people worldwide. ICN has operations in North and Latin America, Western, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Pacific Rim countries. Additional information is also available on the corporate website at icnpharm.com. THE ''SAFE HARBOR'' STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995. This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, regulatory approval processes, the estimates of prevalence of hepatitis C, projections of future sales, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. SOURCE: ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.