Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Danish partner, Lundbeck, have launched their once-daily Parkinson’s disease therapy, Azilect (rasagiline), in the UK. This is the product’s first launch in a European Union member state and comes four months after winning the green light in this market [[23/02/05f]].

Azilect will be available both as monotherapy in patients with early PD and as an adjunct treatment in moderate to advanced disease. Additional launches are planned for the remainder of this year and for 2006 and the next launch is expected to take place in Germany within a few weeks time.

Lundbeck and Teva will co-promote Azilect in the three major European markets of the UK, Germany, and France. Teva will co-promote the product with Eisai in the USA, where it is known as Agilect, once it wins the green light there. It is currently under US Food and Drug Administration review [[08/11/04f]].

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder whose exact cause remains unknown. It is estimated that more than one million people in the EU suffer from PD and, in 2004, global sales of drugs to treat the condition, topped $2.5 billion dollars, with Europe accounting for approximately 40% of this revenue.