Thalassemia Patients and Friends
Discussion Forums => Iron Chelation Corner => Topic started by: Sara76 on October 26, 2013, 04:31:22 PM
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New iron chelator could be available soon! The way I see it, the more choices the better!
http://www.thalassemia.org/company-developing-iron-chelator-completes-equity-financing-signs-agreement-with-novartis/
:yay
Suelou
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Let's hope Novartis doesn't keep it off the market, as they did with Exjade while waiting for the desferal patent to expire.
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Andy,
Wow, that's terrible! I had no idea as I had stopped desferal in the mid 90's and had not followed the development of iron chelators during those years. All I was aware of was that exjade had become available in 2005. Do you know how long they waited from the time clinical trials ended and the patent for desferal expired?
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I've been told my various sources that Novartis kept Exjade off the market for up to 18 years. Once they asked for approval, it was fast tracked and approved rather quickly. In the meantime, Ferriprox was kept off the market in North America, even though it was saving lives in India since the late 1980's. I've learned to have little trust in big pharma. Of course, if Novartis judges that this new chelator can make them boatloads of money while they still own the patent on Exjade, we will see faster development.