Petrovax Pharm LLC has received a European patent for the original medicine product Longidaza®, which is valid in the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Ireland, and Belgium. With the acquisition of the European patent, the developer and manufacturer of the drug product provides the legal protection of its exclusive right to the medicinal product for 20 years in Europe1. Longidaza’s total sales are expected to exceed 1.5 million packs in 2021.
Longidaza® (bovhyaluronidase azoximer) is an original Russian enzyme medicine product that has been widely used in Russia and neighboring countries for more than 15 years in various nosologies: pulmonology, urology, cosmetology, and other fields of medicine. During the pandemic, doctors use Longidaza® to prevent and treat complications caused by the coronavirus infection as well as for post-covid rehabilitation.
In 2020–2021, Petrovax conducted a study to assess the efficacy and safety of Longidaza® in patients who underwent COVID-19. Shortness of breath is one of the most common symptoms that can persist for a long time after the infection and cause patients to need post-covid rehabilitation. During the study, more pronounced dynamics of dyspnea reduction improved blood oxygen saturation, and increased exercise tolerance was noted in the group of patients taking Longidaza®, compared with the control group of those who did not take the drug product.
Mikhail Tsyferov, President of Petrovax Pharm LLC, says:
Longidaza® is a unique development of Russian scientists with no analogs. It is a drug product that is in demand in Russia and the CIS countries, including today during the COVID-19 pandemic. We see a great potential for expanding the geography of its application, including in Europe. Patent protection in the European territories will allow us to feel confident, having certain guarantees to protect our medicine product from unfair competition.
The key point of the promoting strategy for the drug product in new export markets is obtaining the European patent, which is now valid in six countries and will be additionally expanded in fifteen more countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, etc.
Dmitry Pasechnik, Director of Biotechnology Products Sales and Export Department of Petrovax Pharm LLC, says:
We are planning a full foreign expansion into the dynamically growing and promising markets of the neighboring countries and Europe. There is every reason to suppose that Longidaza® will become in demand in the European Union countries since it is already widely used in medical practice and has proven itself among healthcare professionals. We plan to register a medicinal product for the maximum number of indications, most of which are relevant for the EU, which will allow us to successfully promote the product in other foreign markets.
To obtain the patent for Longidaza®, Petrovax Pharm LLC used the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) procedure within the framework of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which is a universal and the most demanded patent system in the world and allows applying for patent protection of an invention simultaneously in many countries (today 152 contracting states participate in it) through submitting a single «international» patent application.
