Kaken Pharmaceutical and Taiyo Yakuhin Enter into an Exclusive Agreement for Marketing of Prink Injection Syringe, an Alprostadil Preparation in Pre-filled Syringe(April 27, 2004)
KAKEN PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. (headquarters: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; president, Shiro Inui) and Taiyo Yakuhin Co, Ltd. have concluded a basic agreement on the exclusive marketing by Kaken of Prink Injection Syringe, an alprostadil preparation in a pre-filled syringe developed and manufactured by Taiyo.

Prink Injection Syringe is a lipo-preparation of alprostadel pre-filled in a glass syringe. Because it does not require aspiration of the drug from an ampule to a syringe, it offers a number of advantages such as reduced risk of contamination and infection, prevention of dispensing errors due to drug mistakes, and increases in the working efficiency of medical professionals.

Prink Injection Syringe is Japan's first pre-filled syringe preparation of alprostadil. It is expected to be included in the NHI price list following its report to the Central Social Insurance Medical Council in June. Kaken plans to launch the product immediately after the NHI price listing.

Used in the treatment of diseases such as chronic arterial occlusion and skin ulcers, Prink Injection Syringe is from the same therapeutic category as Kaken's existing major products such as the oral PGI2 derivative Procylin Tab 20 (beraprost sodium) and the wound healing accelerator Fiblast Spray 500 (trafermin). Kaken expects that it will be able to contribute to the improvement of the QOL of more patients through efficient supply of information on a wider range of products in this field.

The current domestic market size for lipo-preparations of alprostadil is estimated at ¥30 billion. Kaken aims at sales of at least ¥2 billion in the first year of marketing.