Spain’s Zeltia has been boosted by the news that it has received a raft of new approvals to sell its oncology treatment Yondelis.
Ten of those authorisations are for Yondelis (trabectedin) in combination with Johnson & Johnson’s Caelyx (pegylated liposomal doxorubicin) for treating relapsed platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer. The countries in question are Bahrain, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Jordan, Nepal, Oman, Panama, Vietnam and Qatar.
Zeltia’s PharmaMar unit also noted that it has also got the thumbs-up in four of those countries (Bahrain, the Dominican Republic, Jordan and Nepal) to market Yondelis for soft tissue sarcoma. This means that the marine-based drug is currently approved in 73 countries, 30 of which are in Europe.
The Madrid-based group posted revenues of 134.4 million euros in the first nine months of 2012, up 7% on the like, year-earlier period. Net profit totalled 8.5 million euros, versus a loss of 8.1 million euros, though Zeltia noted that any comparison of the two periods must take into consideration that Yondelis sales continued to be affected by the shortage problems J&J had with Caelyx.
PharmaMar recently opened a German subsidiary in Berlin, with a sales team of 15. The firm says it is expanding its presence outside Spain in view of potential licensing-in agreements.
