Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Apricus Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative medicines in urology and rheumatology, today announced the launch of Vitaros®, Apricus’ novel on-demand topical cream for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (“ED”), in Lebanon by Elis Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (“Elis”).
Richard Pascoe, Chief Executive Officer of Apricus, commented, “We are pleased to announce the first launch of Vitaros by Elis and look forward to their performance in the highly attractive Middle East ED market, which they estimate at approximately $200 million. With this most recent launch, Vitaros is now commercially available in Lebanon, plus the existing nine EU countries. Moreover, we expect another ten or more product launches across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East during the first half of next year by our various commercialization partners. Looking forward, our key strategic goals continue to be achieving profitability through Vitaros revenue growth and obtaining Vitaros FDA approval in the United States in 2018.”
In January 2011, Apricus signed an exclusive license agreement with Elis to market Vitaros in the Gulf States and part of the Middle East, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Yemen. Under the terms of the agreement, Apricus has received an upfront payment of $100,000 and a regulatory milestone payment of $100,000 as the result of the Lebanon approval. Apricus is also eligible to receive up to an additional $1.9 million in milestone payments on future sales, plus tiered double-digit royalties in the low to high teens based on Elis’ net sales of the product.
Vitaros is a new entrant in this ED treatment market, offering a product profile making it appealing to certain patients. Vitaros is a topical ED cream that delivers rapid onset (generally five to thirty minutes) and treatment duration of approximately one to two hours. Vitaros’ local delivery provides an alternative for patients, but particularly those with complications that preclude them from using the orally delivered systemic treatments or who prefer to avoid the injectable forms of alprostadil.
