Mumbai: Aventis Pharma, earlier known was Hoechst Marion Roussel, has set a sales target of Rs 6 crore for its newly-launched anti-rheumatoid arthritis drug, leflunomide, under the brand name Arava.

It is for the first time that a once daily, oral, specifically designed arthritis drug is launched in the Indian drug market.
So far rheumatoid arthritis has been treated by methotrexate in 47 per cent of cases, sulphasalazine in 29 per cent of cases and chloroquine, popularly known as an anti-malarial, in 24 per cent of cases.

Twelfth October happens to be the World Arthritis Day.

According to Bashir Ahmed, the executive director who in charge of the companys commercial operations, Aventis Pharma is expecting a Rs 6 crore sales turnover for the drug Arava in the first year of its launch. Arava will be the first new disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug for the treatment of active rheumatoid arthritis.

The company claims that Arava is a highly efficacious drug with a good safety profile when used with proper care and monitoring. Like other drugs in its class, pregnant women cannot take Arava, and alcohol has to be avoided.

Senior company officials said the number of patients expected to take Arava, a lifelong treatment, in the first year is around 5,000. The company has also simultaneously launched Joint Effort, a unique programme for the counseling support, treatment and rehabilitation of rheumatoid arthritis patients. Trained counselors from the company will periodically visit all patients on Arava.
According to Dr P K Pispati, a rheumatologist consultant at Bombay Hospital, rheumatoid arthritis can become severe in six months, leading to surgery. It can also affect vital organs and lead to heart attack. There are 60 million rheumatoid arthritis patients in the world and of the 6,400 patients that he has examined at medical camps over a period of three years, 22 per cent of them suffered from rheumatoid arthritis.

Speaking at the launch, Dr Anand N Malviya, previously associated with AIIMS, said NSAIDs and disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have comparable toxicity. DMARDs are the drugs which can actually stop the disease progression. More and more young ladies are falling prey to the disease and dying at an early age.