ZENECA GROUP APPLICATION FOR SEROQUEL
LONDON, August 9 (Reuter) - Zeneca Group Plc said it had submitted a
marketing approval application for its antipsychotic drug Seroquel in the
UK, the first submission in a major European market.
It said Seroquel should "play a significant role in the world market
for antipsychotic medication, which is currently estimated at over one
billion stg per annum."
Zeneca said the market was estimated to grow to around 2.5 billion stg
by the year 2000.
Seroquel has been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
and other submissions are expected over the next few weeks, Zeneca said.
Zeneca said clinical trials had shown that Seroquel offered effective
management of both the positive symptoms -- it listed hallucinations and
delusions as examples -- and the negative symptoms -- for example,
emotional withdrawal and lack of motivation -- associated with
schizophrenia.
Zeneca said the drug showed no difference to a placebo in triggering
any side effects connected with involuntary facial and limb movements,
known as "extra pyramidal side effects."