BMP Sunstone Launches Ferriprox In China

SHANGHAI - BMP Sunstone launched iron chelator Ferriprox in China June 26, as part of a five-year licensing agreement with Apotex to market and distribute the drug in the country.

Ferriprox (deferiprone) is indicated for treating iron overload in patients with thalassemia major for whom desferrioxamine therapy is contraindicated or who have toxic reactions with the therapy. It is the only oral formulation available in China.

"BMP Sunstone launched Ferriprox in the second half of June," Byron Wang, managing director with Beijing-based BMP Sunstone, told PharmAsia News. "Ferriprox is marketed in the EU and other countries and is already approved for sale by [China's State FDA], and is not listed on the National Reimbursement Drug List."

"Thalassemia is most likely to happen among a population living in a humid environment, where malaria is very common," Wang added.

The incidence rate of the genetic blood disorder was reported to be at 3 to 8 percent in China, according to Wang. "However, in the southern part of the country, such as Guangdong and Guangxi, the incidence rate was estimated to be at 7.8 percent."

An estimated 15 million new thalassemia patients are diagnosed each year in China, Wang said.

"The total number of new cases in China that need blood transfusions and chelation therapy stands at 11,000," Wang said. "But since a lot of these patients are poor, most of them did not receive treatment as it was unaffordable or inaccessible."

Until now Novartis' Desferal (deferoxamine) injection was the only iron chelator available in China, he said.

"Desferal is already approved and marketed in China and is recommended as the first-line treatment for thalassemia," Wang said. "It is also listed on the National Reimbursement Drug List."

"Ferriprox is regarded as better than Desferal in terms of greatly increasing patients' compliance with treatment and it is more effective in reducing iron overload in the heart," Wang added.

Ferriprox has been developed for international markets by the Canadian firm ApoPharma, a subsidiary of generic manufacturer Apotex. ApoPharma is the new drug discovery and development arm of Apotex, focusing on medications to treat iron metabolism disorders and selected skin diseases.

"Since ApoPharma does not have its own marketing arm in China, it searched for a company that it felt had the interest and capabilities to educate the thalassemia community in China about the use of Ferriprox in the treatment of iron overload," Michael Spino, president of Toronto-based ApoPharma, told PharmAsia News.

"As our distributor, BMP Sunstone markets the product in China and retains a portion of the revenues for their sales and marketing efforts," Spino added. Beijing Med Pharm acquired Sunstone in October 2007 (Also see "Beijing Med-Pharm Acquires Chinese OTC Drug Manufacturer Sunstone" - Scrip, 15 Oct, 2007.).

As part of the launch, BMP Sunstone has held physician seminars in cities throughout Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.

"We will educate doctors and patients to follow a standard treatment scheme in order to get more satisfactory results," BMP's Wang said. "We will also set a reasonable market price to make more [treatments] more affordable."

- Ying Huang ([email protected])