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Another Drug Makes It to Europe First: Lilly’s Blood Thinner Prasugrel

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/02/23/another-drug-makes-it-to-europe-first-lillys-blood-thinner-prasugrel/

Posted By Jacob Goldstein On February 23, 2009 @ 8:47 am In

Once again, a drug has won approval in Europe before the U.S. This time, it’s the anticlotting drug prasugrel from Eli Lilly and Daiichi Sankyo. The companies said today that the drug has been greenlighted in Europe for certain patients who have stents put in to clear the arteries around the heart.

The drug, marketed under the name Efient, will compete with the blockbuster Plavix, which is co-marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis.

As we noted a few weeks back when J&J’s Stelara for psoriasis was approved in Europe, it’s become pretty common for drugs to make it to market in Europe before the U.S.

The FDA typically comes to the same conclusions as its European counterparts, but not always. Galvus, Novartis’s diabetes drug, was approved in Europe but has stalled here. And Sanofi’s weight-loss drug Acomplia, which never made it to the U.S. market, was approved in Europe but later suspended over concerns connected to psychiatric side effects.

Still, the U.S. prospects for prasugrel look good. A committee of FDA advisers recently voted unanimously in favor of approving the drug.