SangStat SangCya
Executive Summary
Rite Aid is instructing its pharmacies to begin replacing Novartis' cyclosporine Neoral oral solution with SangStat's less expensive product for the prevention of graft rejection following organ transplant, SangStat CEO Jean-Jacques Bienaime announced Jan. 11. The Rite Aid memo also directs pharmacists to purchase the SangStat product from McKesson. The company is expecting European approval of the cyclosporine in the first quarter of 1999, Bienaime said. Marketing approval will be sought in first half of 1999 in the U.S. and EU for cyclosporine capsules following positive results from a bioequivalence trial vs. Neoral. The single-dose, randomized, cross-over trial involved 27 healthy volunteers