Navamedic takes over marketing of Glucomed in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland
The change is initiated by Navamedic, as a result of Meda's acquisition of the pharmaceutical company Recip towards the end of 2007. Meda thus became the owner of Glucosine, one of Glucomed's competitors in some of the Nordic markets. The change will be effective from 1 March 2008.
In Q4 2007, Navamedic will state as income the rest of a provision related to a possible regulation of prices on earlier sales of Glucomed to Meda. In Q1 2008, the remaining provisions related to the received license income will be stated as income.
In the generic substitution cases that have been ongoing for some time in Sweden regarding Pfizer's Artox, Recip's Glucosine and Navamedic's product Glucomed, a decision is made in the case between Navamedic and the Medical Product Agency (Läkemedelsverket). The decision by the Swedish Administrative Court of Appeal (Kammarrätten ) supports Navamedic in the case of generic substitution between Glucomed and Glucosine. Kammarrätten has thus changed the decision from the county administrative court (Länsrätten) and there will not be any generic substitution between Glucomed and Glucosine. The decision in Kammarrätten is already made effective.
The decision in the case between Pfizer and Läkemedelsverket regarding generic substitution between Glucomed and Artrox is expected within the next months. If the decision from the county administrative court (Länsretten) is sustained, Glucomed will be the only product on the substitution list together with Pfizer's product Artrox.
Navamedic is a fast-growing specialty pharma company with high growth ambitions. The company is well underway with the international commercialization of its osteoarthritis medicine Glucomed. Glucomed was in 2006, as the first glucosamine product, approved by European authorities for marketing as a drug in all EU countries. I 2007 Navamedic initiated, through the acquisition of Vitaflo Scandinavia AB, an expansion of its strategy to include marketing of pharmaceutical products in selected countries. Vitaflo represents more than 40 products from 20 foreign companies on the Nordic markets, and had an annual turnover growth of 50-60% in the period 2003-2006. Navamedic aspires to grow both through increased geographical presence and a broader product portfolio within selected knowledge areas. On top of organic growth, the company will continue to evaluate further company and/or product acquisitions.
Navamedic will present its Q4 results and preliminary full year accounts on February 6, 2008.
For further information, please contact:
Øyvind W. Brekke, CEO Navamedic ASA
E-mail: oyvind.brekke@navamedic.com
Office: +47 67 11 25 40
Mobile: +47 91 19 81 64
Bernt-Olav Røttingsnes, CFO/IRO Navamedic ASA
E-mail: bor@navamedic.com
Office: +47 67 11 25 44
Mobile: +47 91 34 70 21