NEW YORK, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- His Royal Highness, The Duke of York, was the guest of honour today at a lunch held to mark the United States launch of UK-based specialty pharmaceutical company, ProStrakan Group plc . ProStrakan’s first US product, Sancuso, is currently under consideration for licensing by the US Food & Drug Administration.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080214/NYTH111 )
Prince Andrew is visiting the United States as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade & Investment. He accepted the invitation to today’s lunch after visiting ProStrakan’s headquarters in Galashiels, Scotland, last year at which time he was briefed on ProStrakan’s plans for expansion into the US.
Commenting on today’s visit, The Duke of York said:
“It gives me great pleasure to see ProStrakan establish itself in the United States. I was hugely impressed by the company’s ambition and drive when I visited their headquarters in Galashiels last year. I am committed to doing everything I can to help UK companies like ProStrakan expand still further into the global marketplace.”
ProStrakan’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Wilson Totten, the host of the lunch, said:
“ProStrakan was founded on a commitment to developing innovative products to meet the needs of patients. With that, we are pleased to announce our US business and today’s event has marked our arrival here in the best possible way.
“We were delighted when Prince Andrew visited us in Galashiels last year but to have him join us as guest of honour today here in New York was a special privilege.”
Also attending today’s lunch were guests representing ProStrakan’s US business partners, including Ron Wooten, Executive Vice President of Quintiles Transnational and President of NovaQuest; Patrick Jordan, Vice President of NovaQuest; and advisors and staff in the US. The lunch was held at Manhattan’s Carlyle Hotel.
ProStrakan has established its US headquarters in Bedminster, New Jersey. The company has partnered with NovaQuest to recruit a 75-person sales force to commercialize ProStrakan’s products in the US. NovaQuest is the strategic partnering group of Quintiles Transnational, the world’s leading pharmaceutical services company. Once recruited, it is planned that the sales force will promote ProStrakan’s Sancuso.
Sancuso is a transdermal patch that delivers granisetron, an established 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, steadily into the bloodstream over a number of days, helping to prevent the side-effects of nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy without the need for injection or having to swallow pills.
ProStrakan
ProStrakan Group plc is a rapidly growing international specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the development and commercialisation of prescription medicines for the treatment of unmet therapeutic needs in major markets.
ProStrakan’s head office and development facilities are situated in Galashiels in Scotland. EU-wide sales and marketing of ProStrakan’s portfolio of products are handled by commercial subsidiaries in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and other EU countries. www.prostrakan.com
NovaQuest
NovaQuest, the strategic partnering group of Quintiles Transnational, is an industry pioneer in offering tailored financial and operational solutions that help pharmaceutical and biotech companies overcome development and commercialization challenges. Its unique managed partnership approach ensures sponsorship by senior-level executives; access to global development and commercial resources and expertise; and efficient operational delivery of services. Since 2000, NovaQuest partnerships have committed more than $2 billion in capital to pharmaceutical and biotech companies of all sizes. For more information, please visit www.novaquest.com.
CONTACT: Callum Spreng, Corporate Comms Director, +44-1896-664100, or Ben
Brewerton, +44-20-7831-3113, both of ProStrakan UK, or Karen McCleery of
ProStrakan US, +1-212-884-0659
Web site: http://www.prostrakan.com/
http://www.novaquest.com/
