Once-daily Seroquel launched
pharmafile | September 18, 2008 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â AZ, psychÂ
AstraZeneca has launched a once-daily version of Seroquel in the UK.
The drug is used to treat schizophrenia and manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder and until now, many patients have had to take the medication twice a day.
Seroquel XL (quetiapine prolonged release) represents an improvement on the current twice-a-day dosing and is likely to help control symptoms in patients.
The new formulation also means patients can reach the target dose (600mg) after just two days, twice as quick as on the existing version of the drug.
Seroquel is competing with Lilly's Zyprexa, Janssen-Cilag's Invega, a once daily tablet and Risperdal Consta, a 'depot' injection given just once a fortnight.
Generic versions of Zyprexa and Risperdal are now becoming available, making the market tougher for companies with branded products.
Companies are generally looking to create improved or long-acting versions of their existing drugs to help ensure patients take their medication regularly and benefit fully from the treatment.
A recent ICM survey of psychiatrists commissioned by AstraZeneca found 86% believed a patient is more likely to make a recovery if symptoms are controlled quickly.
The survey also found that 52% thought current treatment options were insufficient, resulting in patients' symptoms impairing their quality of life.
"Seroquel has shown efficacy across a wide spectrum of symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar mania and I believe that the new formulation gives an additional option to clinicians wishing to use quetiapine but preferring titration to target dose by day two and a simplified dosing regimen," said Dr Allan Young, director of the University British Colombia Institute of Mental Health.
The atypical antipsychotic treatment is AstraZeneca's second biggest-selling drug after Nexium, with sales of more than $4 billion last year representing almost 14% of the group's total revenue.
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