BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Eisai sales and marketing update

January 6, 2014 8:00 AM UTC

On Jan. 2, Eisai said it would launch Fycompa perampanel in the U.S. on Jan. 6 as adjunct treatment for partial onset seizures in patients with epilepsy ages 12 years and older. The wholesale acquisition cost for 30 tablets of 2 mg Fycompa is $284.40. The starting dose is 2 mg once daily in patients not on enzyme-inducing anti-epileptic drugs and 4 mg in patients on enzyme-inducing anti-epileptic drugs. FDA approved the AMPA-type glutamate receptor antagonist in October 2012. In December 2013, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency scheduled Fycompa as a class III scheduled drug, where class I indicates the highest potential for abuse and class V indicates the lowest. Eisai had not been able to launch Fycompa until the DEA scheduled Fycompa (see BioCentury, Dec. 9, 2013).

On Dec. 17, 2013, Eisai launched Inovelon rufinamide oral suspension in Portugal for the adjunctive treatment of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) in patients four years of age and older. Eisai could not be reached for pricing details. Eisai markets the triazole derivative in the U.S. as Banzel and in the EU as Inovelon. Rufinamide is also approved in Switzerland and Canada. ...