It was good news for Scotland-based speciality pharma ProStrakan Group yesterday after its cancer pain drug Rapinyl was approved for sale in Sweden, marking its first green light in Europe.
Rapinyl, which will be sold under the trade name Abstral in Sweden, is a fast-dissolving formulation of fentanyl designed to treat breakthrough cancer pain, to which the group licensed exclusive European rights from Scandinavian group Orexo AB.
The product is scheduled for launch in Sweden sometime during the third quarter, where it will be marketed through group’s joint venture with Orexo, set up in August last year to cover the Nordic region.
Sweden will act as the Reference Member State for the wider filing of the drug in the European Union, and Prostrakan said it expects to have completed the filing procedure by the end of the year.
But despite news of the product’s first European green light and a positive reaction from analysts, investors seemed to remain relatively unenthused about the development, and the group’s stock stayed flat.
