Venus Remedies, a mid-cap Rs 260 crore plus Chandigarh based pharma company, has received first ever injectable FDC product patent for Potentox, a research product of the company, from the Indian Patent Office, Government of India. This unique combination of a cephalosporin with aminoglycoside is a super specialty product indicated for the treatment of hospital acquired pneumonia, community acquired pneumonia and febrile neutropenia.

A recent joint UNICEF-WHO report has drawn attention to the scourge of pneumonia. India recorded a total of 7.8 lakh pneumonia cases in 2005 and 3,513 deaths. As in many countries pneumonia is an under-recognized problem in India, despite the fact that pneumonia kills more than four lakh children here each year. According to UNICEF and WHO, the country accounts for nearly 40 per cent of global pneumonia child pneumonia cases. Though PCV vaccine is available now but it costs Rs 4,500 per dose and needs to be given to infants when they are aged 6, 10 and 14 weeks followed by a booster dose. This makes vaccine therapy very costly and unaffordable affair for common man. Potentox provides a cost effective solution to all such kind of deadly diseases.

Prompt treatment of pneumonia with a full course of appropriate antibiotics was a challenge in the developing world. Venus medicine Research Centre (VMRC) took up this challenge and studied thoroughly the bacteria responsible for pneumonia, the resistance pattern with existing therapies, reason of failures in order to find this innovative drug combination Potentox which shall help in providing instant remedy for hospital/community acquired pneumonia.

The product was launched in Indian market after completion all preclinical and multicentric phase-III clinical trials on more than 300 patients after DCGI approval. Later after the launch post marketing phase IV studies were also conducted to re-establish the safety of drug. The product has potential to reduce the toxicity caused by aminoglycosides and disease condition.

Venus had already launched Potentox in Indian market two years back. The product has already been used by more than 20,000 patients across India and has proved to be a big boon for ailing humanity. The company is in the process of out licensing and further registration of Potentox in different markets world wide, a company release said.