Synthon Pharmaceuticals Receives Frost & Sullivan Customer Value Innovation Award for its Innovative Business Model

Business Wire, Nov 10, 2004

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Frost & Sullivan's acknowledged Synthon Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. for its revolutionary pharmaceutical innovations, in particular the drug Pexeva. The company received the Frost & Sullivan Neurology Customer Value Innovation Award for its success based on its novel business model.

This award is given to the company that has provided patients with a product or service ensuring the highest ratio of value to cost in a market where cost of therapy precludes many from receiving effective treatment. Synthon has provided patients with superior products while staying competitively priced and enhancing their quality of life.

Launched in March 2004, Pexeva is used for the treatment of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder. It also offers a pioneering alternative for patients currently utilizing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Bioequivalent to Paxil, the blockbuster antidepressant from GlaxoSmithKline, which is formulated as paroxetine hydrochloride, Pexeva contains paroxetine mesylate.

"The chemical difference between the two products is the inactive salt portion of the active ingredient -- mesylate versus hydrochloride," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Patrick Rajan. "Pexeva is bioequivalent to Paxil because the inactive salt is separated from the active paroxetine molecule in the gastrointestinal tract, allowing only the active paroxetine molecule to be absorbed into the bloodstream and providing the desired therapeutic effect."

Offered at a staggering 31 percent discount in comparison to GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil, Synthon's Pexeva is an inventive example of the company's scientific expertise in pharmaceutical chemistry. This clinical ingenuity enables the creation of effective alternatives to high-priced existing therapies that are then patented and offered at the lowest possible prices.

Synthon's unique customer policies separate it from generic drug manufacturers. With a complete, efficient national sales team promoting Pexeva, the company is working toward educating physicians, consumers, and payers not only about the comparable benefits of the drug but also the extensive potential savings at the consumer level.

Synthon also offers many of the patient and physician services traditionally offered by the pharmaceutical industry including sales force support, product samples, indigent patient program, and detailed medical information. The company's groundbreaking business model has proved to be successful with its first ever launched product -- Pexeva -- in the United States.

"This model ensures end users access to safe and effective branded pharmaceutical alternatives at significant discounts when compared to expensive market leaders," says Rajan. "It delivers considerable cost-savings to healthcare consumers without compromising on safety or effectiveness, which helps patients maintain their health and quality of life."

About Synthon Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.

For more information, please visit www.synthon-usa.com.

About Frost & Sullivan

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