Orion: Sales to keep increasing

Orion, the recently de-merged Finnish pharmaceutical manufacturer, has said that it expects sales to continue growing, citing the success of its entacapone product franchise.

The company said that the number of deliveries of entacapone, the Parkinson’s disease treatment, to Novartis was “exceptionally high” during the first months of 2006.

Orion reported a 25 per cent increase in operating profit for the half-year, with a further 25 per cent having been added to the company’s capital expenditure.

Research and development spending also rose by 11.3 per cent, reaching over 126 million euros (85 million pounds), of which 95 per cent was spent on the pharmaceutical business.

The company revealed the details of a phase III clinical trial for entacapone to study the drug’s effectiveness in delaying the onset of dyskinesias in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Orion also spoke of a deal signed by Abbott regarding the development of levosimendan, a treatment for heart failure.

A statement read: “Orion and Abbott Laboratories have started the discussions that were meant by the stock exchange release of May 18th 2006 concerning a possible additional phase III clinical study with the heart failure drug levosimendan and its financing. Orion will inform about the solutions as soon as reached.”

Previously, levosimedndan in phase II trials did not generate sufficient results to warrant a phase III trial for the treatment of chronic heart failure.

Earlier this year, the company de-merged to form the Orion Corporation, which produces pharmaceuticals, as well as Oriola KD, which deals with the distribution and wholesale of pharmaceutical products.

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