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Roche stops selling acne drug
Accutane
ZURICH (Reuters), Fri Jun 26, 2009
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to Original Reuters Artricle
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche
Holding AG is no longer selling its acne drug Accutane
as it has reached the end of its life cycle and is losing
ground to generic alternatives, the company said on
Friday.
Generics of the powerful medicine have
been available since 2002 and now dominate the market,
Roche said. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Mylan
Inc said they will continue to sell generic versions.
"As always when you have generics
around your market share drops," Roche spokeswoman
Martina Rupp said. "This was an economical decision
driven by falling market share." Accutane's market
share was between 4 and 5 percent.
Roche said the move was not done for safety
or efficacy reasons and was unlikely to have any impact
on earnings.
The last date for distribution in the
United States was June 25. Accutane is now no longer
available from Roche directly but patients may still
be able to get it from pharmacies, she said.
Accutane, known generically as isotretinoin,
has had a controversial history since it began sale
in 1982. While powerful at clearing acne, the drug is
linked to severe birth defects if taken during pregnancy,
so physicians and patients must abide by a strict risk
management program
Accutane has also been suspected of other
side effects, such as causing depression and suicidal
thinking.
The Swiss drugmaker noted on Friday it
has been faced with high costs from personal injury
lawsuits that it continues to defend against vigorously.
Roche shares rose 1.7 percent.
(Reporting by Katie Reid and Lewis Krauskopf
in New York; Editing by David Cowell and Richard Chang)
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