Venus Remedies, a leading research based global pharmaceutical company, has been granted another patent by European Patent Office (EPO) for its research drug Achnil, a once-a-day painkiller injection. This patent grant will be in force till 2025 in the member countries of EPO which will further reinforce the market position of Venus Remedies in the major economies such as Germany, UK, France, Spain, Sweden, Italy and Switzerland. Earlier, the same formulation was granted patent by the Indian Patent Office. This is the second European patent success for Venus after Sulbactomax.
Dr Manu Chaudhry, joint managing director, said, “This novel formulation based on NDDS (Novel Drug Delivery System) technology is going to fill the gap of long standing demand for better pain management therapy. Especially for aged population, it is not only going to reduce the number of pricks but will also drastically reduce the side effects associated with the use of NSAIDs.”
Talking about the benefits of the drug Dr Chaudhary further added, “Achnil starts its action instantly by giving immediate relief from acute pain and is effective for the next 24 hours as against the conventional daily dose of three injections of diclofenac given every 8 hours.”
The global market for pain management is forecast to reach US$ 60 billion by the year 2015. Currently, more than 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain of varying degrees. Among all types of chronic pains, neuropathic pain stands as the highly under served market. Approximately 3-4.5 per cent of the global population suffers from neuropathic pain, with incidence rate increasing in complementary to age. With increasing aged population and absence of a full-fledged pain management therapy, demand for better pain management therapies, addressing acute and chronic pain, is on the rise, Aceclofenac injection is developed to address this unmet need.
Aceclofenac, a radical innovation of Venus Medicine Research Centre, is a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) which is used to relieve acute as well as chronic pain and inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, low back pain, ankylosing spondylitis, dental pain, post traumatic pain, gynaecological pain and oncology pain. Aceclofenac is designed in such a way that the product is never released in super or sub therapeutic zones and hence is highly safe and practically free from side effects.
The development of Achnil took more than five years and has completed phase-III clinical trials successfully. Company has already got approval from DCGI for this product and is planning to launch it in the next month. It has plans to commercialise this formulation in the European market through out-licensing of exclusive marketing rights to pharma major.
The US represents the largest regional market for pain management worldwide, followed by Europe, as stated by the new market research report on pain management. Increasing aging population worldwide, growing number of surgical procedures being performed, changing lifestyles, and increasing incidences of cancer are some of the factors driving growth in the pain management sector.