Glaxo to push ahead with Ziagen in Europe

Despite confirmed reports that a few patients had died due to "hypersensitive" reactions to the drug, British pharma major, Glaxo Wellcome (which is in the process of completing its merger with SmithKline Beecham), sought to play down fears about its Ziagen HIV treatment.

The company announced that it was going ahead with this year's planned European launch of Trizivir, its new Aids drug, which contains Ziagen. Trizivir, the first medicine to combine three Aids treatments in one tablet, integrates Ziagen, Epivir and Retrovir - all sold by Glaxo. Taken twice a day by patients suffering from the dreaded disease, the medicine is seen as an advance in the class of drugs expected to form the backbone of treatment for the control of the HIV virus.

While authentic figures are not available on the number of fatalities from the treatment, Glaxo admitted that about 4 per cent of patients had displayed symptoms such as fever and vomiting. With the negative response to the drug at about two people in every 10,000 patients, Ziagen has results, which are 10 times higher than the figures for other drugs.

The company declared that Ziagen is a very potent drug and clinical trials have indeed shown that it has a potential for side effects and patients have died from using it. The company also strongly believes that it is an effective drug when used appropriately and has sent out warnings to all doctors and those working in the HIV field of the possible side effects and its fatality.

Glaxo controls about 38 per cent of the HIV drugs market and Ziagen accounted for 86 million worth of sales last fiscal. This year, sales of Ziagen have already reached 73 million. Last year, sales of HIV-related drugs accounted for 982 million out of total group sales of 8.5 billion. The company does not expect the latest concerns to have an adverse impact on its trading or revenue stream from the sector.

Glaxo is planning to launch the drug in Europe by the end of this year, after it received statutory approvals from the EU the introduction of the drug.