Perhaps a Pyrrhic victory

OXFORD - Chiroscience Group plc (LSE:CRO) may have earned a Pyrrhic victory last week when Sweden's Medical Products Agency granted regulatory approval for Chirocaine, CRO's levobupivacaine long-acting local anaesthetic.

The registration opens the door to approval throughout Europe. Unfortunately, plans to launch the product look to be held up by the planned merger of Zeneca plc, which acquired the marketing rights to Chirocaine earlier this year, with Astra A/S, which owns the rival anesthetics Naropin and Marcaine...