Galen unveil chewable ‘Pill’

THE world’s first chewable contraceptive, developed by Irish pharmaceutical company Galen, has won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Galen’s share price remained static on the news which had been anticipated by the market.

The company said the Ovcon 35 chewable tablets are a convenient form of Galen’s successful Ovcon 35 oral contraceptive. “The new product gives the option to chew or swallow and has a pleasant (spearmint) flavour. It is designed to enhance both convenience and compliance for patients taking oral contraceptives.”

Galen chief executive Roger Boissonneault said: “The approval of this second generation product will enable us to continue to develop our Ovcon(R) franchise, which has grown by almost 30% in the last year.”

Reacting to the news Merrion Stockbrokers Peter Frawley said he expects Galen to launch the product in March or /April 2004.

“This process is likely to take 3-6 months to complete at which stage we expect Galen to withdraw the original Ovcon from the market. Earlier this year, Galen negated the generic threat to Ovcon through the purchase of an option to Barr’s generic version of the product.

Mr Frawley said the new version of the product was expected to gain at least three years marketing exclusivity from the FDA and a patent application is pending.