Japan Tobacco Inc. and Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., JT's pharmaceutical business subsidiary, would launch two anti-HIV drugs- Emtriva Capsules 200mg (emtricitabine) and Truvada Tablets (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), both of which are licensed by Gilead Sciences, Inc, starting April 19 in Japan.
In July 2003, JT signed a licensing agreement with Gilead for the commercialization of three anti-HIV drugs including Emtriva and Truvada in Japan. Viread, another drug covered in the agreement, was already launched in April last year. The importing approval for Emtriva and Truvada was obtained from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on March 23, 2005. Marketing of these drugs will be handled by Torii following National Health Insurance price listing of the drug on April 6.
Emtriva Capsules 200mg is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor that works by blocking reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that is involved in the replication of HIV. The drug is prescribed as one capsule once daily and simpler regimens are expected to reduce the pill burden on patients while improving overall adherence.
Truvada Tablets is a co-formulation of emtricitabine, the active ingredient in Emtriva Capsules 200mg and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, the active ingredient. Similar to Viread Tab. 300 mg and Emtriva Capsules 200mg, this drug is prescribed as one tablet once daily.
Along with Viracept and Viread, two other anti-HIV drugs the JT group already markets in Japan, the two newly-launched drugs are expected to enhance the JT group companies' contribution to the treatment of HIV patients in Japan.