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20 June, 2005: German Remedies, a part of the Zydus Group, has launched Fludara Oral (Fludarabine), a drug for treatment of chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia. The orally administered drug is a product of Berlex Inc, a US affiliate of Schering AG Germany, according to a statement issued to The Stock Exchange, Mumbai.
"We have been introducing several new therapies that can improve the quality of life for the patients and enable better disease management. With Oncology being one of our core therapy areas, this new addition further strengths our product portfolio of critical-care therapies which includes cytostatics," JC Jani executive director of Zydus Cadila, and Head of German Remedies said.
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) is a cancer of the lymphocytes and is a progressive disease, which at present, has no cure. This occurs mostly in people over the age of 50 and is rare in people under the age of 40. Patients diagnosed with CLL need to undergo chemotherapy as a part of the treatment.
Alkylating cytotoxic chemotherapies create a toxic environment within the blood to destroy malignant cells. The conventional chemotherapy has many side effects including hair loss. Fludarabine has emerged as one of the leading drugs for treatment of CLL and is used both in standalone and combination therapy modules.
This helps control CLL by shortening the life span of leukemia cells and interferes with the making of new DNA. This preventing leukemia cells from growing. With this treatment, the remission can last for several years, thereby increasing the span of survival.
Till recently, the only way to administer this important therapy was through an IV injection, which is time consuming both for the patient and the healthcare system. However, with the advent of Fludara Oral, the hassles were been able to contain, it said.
The drug also causes fewer side effects commonly seen with the conventional chemotherapy, such as hair loss. At present, German Remedies markets Holoxan, Endoxan, Niltamide in the oncology segment.
BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT
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