Genzyme Completes Purchase of Synvisc Sales and Marketing Rights
Genzyme Corp. announced that it has completed the transaction to buy back the sales and marketing rights to Synvisc® (hylan G-F 20) in the United States and five European countries from Wyeth. The cash transaction is accretive to Genzyme.
Genzyme will now record all Synvisc end-user revenue in the U.S. and five European countries (Germany, Poland, Greece, Portugal and the Czech Republic). Synvisc is the leading viscosupplementation product for the treatment of pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee in the U.S. and Canada, and one of the top products in this category in Europe.
"This is a strategic franchise for Genzyme and one of our key areas of growth and investment," said Ann Merrifield, president of Genzyme Biosurgery, the unit of Genzyme Corporation that manufactures Synvisc. "Wyeth has positioned Synvisc well in the market and we now look forward to building on this success and realizing the full value of the product moving forward."
Synvisc has become the top-selling viscosupplement because of the benefits that it provides patients who experience pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee. Since it is delivered locally, Synvisc avoids some of the associated side-effects of traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and COX-2 agents. Additionally, Synvisc is the only viscosupplement on the U.S. market that can provide up to six months of osteoarthritis knee pain relief with just three injections per treatment regimen. For these reasons, Synvisc has been used to treat more than three million patients worldwide.
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