Eisai to Form Partnership with Valeant for Halaven®▼ (eribulin) Promotion and Distribution in Eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries

HATFIELD, England, April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Eisai Europe Limited and PharmaSwiss, a Division of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, today announce that they have entered into an agreement to promote and distribute Halaven^®▼ (eribulin) in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovenia for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose disease has progressed after at least two chemotherapeutic regimens for advanced disease. This partnership allows patients rapid access to this new innovative treatment in the CEE markets.

Eisai received European Commission approval for Halaven on 17 March 2011 and the drug is now available and reimbursed in a number of European countries. The company is currently working with Valeant to secure reimbursement of the drug in the CEE markets.

"This new partnership with Valeant means that access to Halaven can happen much faster in the CEE region, as Eisai does not need to establish locally based offices in each country. Eisai's entry into the CEE market is aligned with the company's wider strategy of increasing access to our medicines based on affordability, availability and adoption by making products available in new markets," said Gary Hendler, Eisai EMEA President and CEO.

"As the largest distributor in CEE, we are excited about the opportunity to work with Eisai to introduce Halaven and hopefully other innovative treatments to expand our product range in this region," stated Pavel Mirovsky, President of Valeant Europe.  "Working in partnership means that together we can actively introduce licensed products which match the needs of the region, thereby addressing the needs and increasing the benefits to patients and their families."

Notes to Editors

About Eisai

Eisai is one of the world's leading R&D-based pharmaceutical companies and has defined its corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call human health care (hhc).

Eisai concentrates its R&D activities in three key areas:

• Neuroscience, including: Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, neuropathic pain, epilepsy, depression
• Oncology including: anticancer therapies; tumour regression, tumour suppression, antibodies, etc and supportive cancer therapies; pain relief, nausea
• Vascular/Immunological reaction including: acute coronary syndrome, atherothrombotic disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease

With operations in the U.S., Asia, Europe and its domestic home market of Japan, Eisai employs more than 11,000 people worldwide. In Europe, Eisai undertakes sales and marketing operations in over 20 markets, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Iceland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Eisai in Oncology

Eisai is dedicated to discovering, developing and producing innovative oncology therapies that can make a difference and impact the lives of patients and their families. This passion for people is part of Eisai's human health care (hhc) mission, which strives for better understanding of the needs of patients and their families to increase the benefits health care provides. Our commitment to meaningful progress in oncology research, built on scientific expertise, is supported by a global capability to conduct discovery and preclinical research, and develop small molecules, therapeutic vaccines, biologic and supportive care agents for cancer across multiple indications.

Metastatic Breast Cancer

Metastatic breast cancer is an advanced stage of the disease that occurs when cancer spreads beyond the breast to other parts of the body. In Europe, approximately 6% of breast cancers are metastatic at diagnosis with a 5-year survival rate of 21%.^[1]

Halaven^® (eribulin)

Eribulin is a non-taxane, microtubule dynamics inhibitor indicated for the treatment of patients with breast cancer who have previously received at least two chemotherapeutic regimens for metastatic disease and whose prior therapy should have included an anthracycline and a taxane.^[2] Eribulin belongs to a class of antineoplastic agents, the halichondrins, which are natural products, isolated from the marine sponge Halichondria okadai. It is believed to work by inhibiting the growth phase of microtubule dynamics without affecting the shortening phase and sequesters tubulin into non-productive aggregates.

For further information please visit the web site http://www.eisai.com

About PharmaSwiss

PharmaSwiss, a Division of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, has a broad product portfolio in seven therapeutic areas and operations in nineteen countries throughout Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Serbia. It is the largest distributors in Central and Eastern Europe and conducts operations in Greece. In addition, PharmaSwiss is an existing partner to several large pharmaceutical and biotech companies offering regional expertise in such functions as regulatory, compliance, sales, marketing and distribution. In March 2011, PharmaSwiss was acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc.

For further information, please visit the website http://www.pharmaswiss.com

References

1. Cardoso, M. and Castiglione F. Locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer: ESMO Clinical Recommendations for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. On behalf of the ESMO Guidelines Working Group. Ann Oncol (2009) 20 (suppl 4): iv15-iv18

2. Cortes J, O'Shaughnessy J, Loesch D et al. Eribulin monotherapy versus treatment of physician's choice in patients with metastatic breast cancer (EMBRACE): a phase 3 open-label randomised study.The Lancet. 2011; 377: 914-923