Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited (Daiichi Sankyo) announced that its European subsidiary, Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH Group has granted exclusive rights to Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, USA, known as MSD outside the US and Canada to market the oral, once-daily anti-coagulant, Lixiana (edoxaban), in 13 European countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden. DSE currently has no affiliated companies in these countries, so this agreement will contribute significantly to the growth of edoxaban in Europe.

The aforementioned 13 countries are subject to the marketing authorization of the oral, once-daily anti-coagulant edoxaban which was obtained from the European Commission last June. Sales will proceed as soon as MSD completes launch preparations.

“Following the successful launches of the oral, once-daily edoxaban by Daiichi Sankyo in a number of European markets, we are extremely happy about the agreement with MSD which makes edoxaban now also accessible to patients in Northern and Central Eastern Europe and we believe having one of the biggest pharma companies in the world as our partner is a vote of confidence in edoxaban’s potential in the NOAC market,” says Jan Van Ruymbeke, CEO Daiichi Sankyo Europe.

Edoxaban is an oral, once-daily, direct factor Xa (pronounced Ten A) inhibitor. Factor Xa is one of the key components responsible for blood clotting, so inhibiting this makes the blood thin and less prone to clotting.

Edoxaban received EU approval in June 2015 for the prevention of stroke and SE in adult patients with NVAF with one or more risk factors, such as congestive heart failure, hypertension, age = 75 years, diabetes mellitus, prior stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA), as well as for the treatment of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), and prevention of recurrent DVT and PE in adults. Edoxaban is currently marketed in South Korea, the Netherlands, Ireland, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the US and Japan. In other countries, regulatory review is ongoing.