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To: Ron Nairn who wrote (7057)	3/28/2001 7:04:33 AM
From: Ron Nairn	Respond to of 14101

Provalis has now updated it's web site with a launch PR. provalis.com

To: Ron Nairn who wrote (7057)	3/28/2001 9:19:57 PM
From: Joe Krupa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14101

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but here it is anyway (thanks to Hallucigenia on the Motley Fool Provalis thread). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ sharecast.com Provalis discounts Pennsaid to take on the drugs giants By Robin Davison Mon 26 Mar 2001 LONDON (SHARECAST) - UK healthcare group Provalis is to sell its newly launched osteoarthritis treatment Pennsaid at a significant discount to similar drugs used to treat the ailment. It believes the strategy will help it compete with the pharmaceuticals giants that dominate the £260m UK market for osteoporosis products.Provalis The launch of Pennsaid, announced this morning, gave a modest boost to Provalis’s shares, which were showing a 10% rise to 13.5p by mid-day. However, the shares were hard hit by the recent stockmarket sell-off and are still trading at 50% below their recent 19-21p trading range. At the current price, Provalis is capitalised at £33m and its technology valued at just £21m, subtracting its £12m of cash. But if Provalis can capture even a modest share of the market for osteoarthritis drugs with Pennsaid, the boost to sales would transform its fortunes. The drug is likely to become its top selling product and could significantly increase its pharmaceutical sales, currently running at just over £5m per year. Provalis licensed UK rights to Pennsaid, a liquid formulation of diclofenac, from the Canadian biotech firm Dimethaid Research. Diclofenac is the leading drug in a class called NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), which are highly effective but often give patients serious gastric side-effects. In recent years, COX-2 selective NSAIDs have been developed which provide the same pain relief but with much fewer side-effects. Dimethaid has conduced a number of studies with Pennsaid, which show it provides better pain relief than three orally taken drugs: diclofenac, naproxen (another commonly used NSAID) and Celebrex (a COX-2 sold by the US pharmaceutical giant Pharmacia). This is assumed to be because the drug is targeted to the site by being rubbed into the disease-effected joint rather than being given orally. However, up to now topical products have not been used widely for treating osteoarthritis because of problems with poor absorption. Dimethaid has overcome this problem with Pennsaid by including a penetrating agent called DMSO. And the Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis sells a topical gel form of diclofenac called Voltaren Emulgel, which is popular in the UK despite suffering from problem of poor absorption. Provalis has priced Pennsaid at £16 per month, which is at least a 40% discount to the two COX-2s: Merck & Co’s Vioxx (which costs roughly £22 per month) and Pharmacia’s Celebrex (£18-36 per month, depending on dose). Pennsaid will cost about the same as the safest of the first generation NSAID products although it will have an advantage in terms of efficacy of pain relief: Pharmacia’s Arthrotec, a combination of diclofenac with misoprostol (which is included to reduce the gastric side-effects) costs around £15 per month. Osteoarthritis, with some 7m sufferers, is one of the most common ailments affecting the over-65s and accounts for between 20-25% of all GP visits in the UK. About 80% of people with the condition have the painful swelling and stiffness in either one or two joints, when it is probably most appropriate to use a topical treatment such as Pennsaid. Send your comments to Robin Davison