TopoTarget Ready to Launch Totect in the US

TopoTarget is the first Danish biotech company in Medicon Valley that has been granted FDA approval to market a new indication treatment, Totect, in the US. Totect is planned to be brought onto the US market in October 2007, and Peter Buhl Jensen, CEO of TopoTarget, is looking forward to the launch.

The biotech sector in Medicon Valley is gradually maturing and the recent approval of TopoTarget's Totect by the FDA proves that both the region and the biotech industry in Medicon Valley is able to succeed.

Totect is the first FDA approved indication treatment by a Danish company and although other biotech companies in the region have managed to penetrate the US market, the FDA approval of Totect can be seen as a major breakthrough for the industry at large.

- We have high expectations for Totect, because this product solves an old established problem that can occur during chemotherapy. I'm proud of TopoTarget and of the fact that our innovative treatment for this feared accident has now been validated by the FDA, says Peter Buhl Jensen, CEO of TopoTarget.

Totect is used as a detoxifying agent, which is administered intravenously as an antidote following an extravasation. TopoTarget is the only biotech company with a drug indicated for the treatment of anthracycline extravasation.

Experience from Europe will Strengthen US Launch

Totect is currently marketed as Savene on the European market and it has been on the market for about a year. Even though every quarter shows substantial improvements, Buhl Jensen admits that launching Savene in Europe has created some challenges.

- Europe is a more heterogeneous market than we had expected. Though Savene is a success in Germany and Benelux, we have experienced a slower process in the UK and we have worked hard with the issue of price negotiations in Italy and France, says Peter Buhl Jensen.

Yet it is the very same experience that leaves Buhl Jensen hopeful about the upcoming launch in the US and he emphasises that the launch is prepared down to the very last detail. A year ago TopoTarget established TopoTarget USA Inc. and even before the FDA approval, salespeople were hired to prepare the market.

Working with Cancer Models is Critical

As one of several flourishing biotech companies in Medicon Valley, TopoTarget is in a period of impressive development and growth. Buhl Jensen attributes the company's success to TopoTarget's distinctive culture, which builds on the research tradition of the company's proprietary cancer models.

- We constantly seek to ask the right questions that allow us to find new pathways. While performing clinical trials, we concurrently work with our cancer models and in the end this approach gives us the right product. It is thanks to our cancer models that we discovered Totect, says Peter Buhl Jensen.

Resistance Needs to be Controlled

TopoTarget strives to find ‘Answers for Cancer' and develop improved cancer therapies. Buhl Jensen emphasises that with regards to cancer treatments, it is important to continue to find novel approaches. TopoTarget is dedicated to pursuing this call for further research in order to find new drugs that are able to overcome recurring resistance to existing therapies.

For further information visit the TopoTarget homepage.

By MVA, 10.10.2007