New osteoporosis drug given green light
26 Jun 2009
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis has received European approval for its latest for osteoporosis drug which treats patients who have been affected by bone loss.
Aclasta was approved by the European Union to specifically treat glucocorticoid induced osteoporosis this week and Novartis described the treatment as a significant step forward in tackling the condition.
Trevor Mundel, global head of development at Novartis, said: "This European approval marks another important achievement for Aclasta by adding to the broad spectrum of patients who can now be treated with this therapy."
He added that the drug has a strong safety record which was established during eight years of clinical trials and since its launch in 2007 more than 500,000 patients have used the treatment outside of Europe.
Recently Novartis has announced it is going to expand into Japan through its subsidiary company Sandoz, which it hopes will establish it as a major force in the emerging Asian drug market.
