Sun Pharma, AstraZeneca enter marketing tie up for ticagrelor in India

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and AstraZeneca Pharma India  (AZPIL) have entered into a distribution services agreement in India for AstraZeneca’s brand “Axcer”, a new brand of ticagrelor, a drug used for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). AZPIL already has a brand under the trademark “Brilinta”, for ticagrelor molecule, launched and marketed by AZPIL in India since 2012.

Ticagrelor (trade name Brilinta in the US and Russia, Brilique and Possia in the EU) is a platelet aggregation inhibitor produced by AstraZeneca. The drug was approved for use in the European Union by the European Commission on December 3, 2010. The drug was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on July 20, 2011.

Ticagrelor is a direct-acting, selective and reversibly binding P2Y12 receptor antagonist in a chemical class called cyclo-pentyl-triazolo-pyrimidines (CPTPs). Ticagrelor works by inhibiting platelet activation. Ticagrelor (90mg) is indicated to reduce the rate of thrombotic CV events in patients with ACS (unstable angina [UA], non–ST-elevation myocardial infarction [NSTEMI], or ST-elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI]). Ticagrelor has been shown to reduce the rate of a combined end point of CV death, MI, or stroke compared to clopidogrel. The difference between treatments was driven by CV death and MI with no difference in stroke. In patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention, it also reduces the rate of stent thrombosis.

Sun Pharma will be promoting and distributing “Axcer” brand in India. This collaboration enables AstraZeneca to expand usage of this molecule through wider reach to physicians and thereby benefiting a greater number of ACS patients. It strengthens Sun Pharma’s cardiology portfolio with the addition of a new patented therapy.