Teva’s COPAXONE approved in Japan for the Prevention of Relapse of Multiple Sclerosis

Teva’s COPAXONE, has been approved in Japan for the Prevention of Relapse of Multiple Sclerosis.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced on Monday that its Copaxone glatiramer acetate injection was approved by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) of once-daily COPAXONE 20mg injection for the prevention of relapse of multiple sclerosis. Teva says that the product will be commercialized in Japan by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda).

In Japan, glatiramer acetate was developed as an Unapproved New Drug by Teva Pharmaceutical K.K., a wholly owned subsidiary of Teva, at the request of the MHLW. In March, 2013, Takeda and Teva signed an agreement in which Teva granted Takeda the right to commercialize COPAXONE in Japan.

“Strengthening our offering of specialty medicines in Japan is an important goal for Teva. We are proud to work with Takeda in very close cooperation to make this product available to multiple sclerosis patients and the physicians treating them in Japan,” said Rob Koremans, MD, President and CEO Global Specialty Medicines at Teva.

“The partnership has been a success and we look forward to making additional specialty medicines available to Japanese patients.”

Headquartered in Israel, Teva says that the Japanese approval for COPAXONE is based on the safety and efficacy results of an open-label, 52-week clinical trial conducted by Teva Pharmaceutical K.K. in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in Japan as well as the pivotal trial data sets used for approvals in other countries.