Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB has announced that it will launch their product Paclical in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.

Oasmia Pharmaceutical, a developer of a new generation of drugs within human and veterinary oncology, has announced that it has shipped Paclical, their lead cancer product, to Pharmasyntez, its distribution partner in Russia which is expected to commence sales efforts promptly. Paclical, a novel water-soluble formulation of paclitaxel, was approved in April 2015 by the Russian agency.

Pharmasyntez, the company’s Russia-based distribution partner, is expected to market the product in Russia, Ukraine and Georgia as well as the Commonwealth of Independent States (“CIS”) countries. The market for cytostatics in Russia amounts to 2.05 billion USD with an annual growth rate of 36% according to DSM, the Russian equivalent of IMS Health.

“We are pleased to launch Paclical in this important region, effectively providing patients with a treatment that improves their safety profile, enables higher doses, shortens infusion time, and eliminates the need for pre-medication,” said Julian Aleksov, Executive Chairman of Oasmia.

Standard treatment of ovarian cancer is Taxol in combination with carboplatin. Taxol is a combination of paclitaxel, Cremophor EL (polyethoxylated castor oil) and ethanol. In order to avoid hypersensitivity reactions to Cremophor EL, treatment with Taxol requires extensive pre-medication with corticosteroids and antihistamines as well as a long infusion time. In the recently published results from Oasmia’s pivotal Phase III study, Paclical showed a positive risk/benefit profile compared to treatment with Taxol; removing the need for pre-medication, shortening infusion time to one hour, and possibly reducing the risk of experiencing neuropathy.

Source: Oasmia Pharmaceutical