Eisai launches Prialt in UK for severe pain

Japanese pharmaceutical firm Eisai has launched a new drug for severe chronic pain in the UK. Prialt (ziconotide), a compound derived from the venom of the marine snail Conus magus, was originally acquired from Ireland-based Elan.

The Irish biotechnology firm sold the exclusive European marketing rights to the non-opioid painkiller at the start of the year, in a deal worth up to $100.0 million (Marketletter February 20). The agent, which belongs to a class of analgesics known as N-type calcium channel blockers, achieved revenues of $6.3 million in 2005, since its US launch in the first quarter of that year.