Health Canada OKs AstraZeneca's Brilinta and new use for Merck's Gardasil

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) says that Health Canada has approved Brilinta (ticagrelor tablets) for the secondary prevention of atherothrombotic events in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

With the approval in Canada, Brilinta has now been cleared in 33 countries, including in the European Union under the trade name Brilique, and in Brazil, Malaysia and Macau under the trade name Brilinta. The product is currently under regulatory review in 42 countries, including Russian, India, China and the USA, where the Food and Drug Administration requested additional analyses of the PLATO data (The Pharma Letter February 4). There appear to be some concerns that Brilinta is not as effective in American patients as those of other populations.

According to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters Pharma, consensus forecasts for the blood-thinning drug are for sales to reach $1.3 billion in 2015.