Genzyme, who employ almost 400 people at their biotechnology facility in Waterford, have been granted European approval through a CE mark for Synvisc-One, the single treatment of Synvisc that has been shown in the EU to provide up to six months pain relief from osteoarthritis of the knee. Synvisc-One is now the only viscosupplementation product available in Europe that is labelled to provide this long-term duration of pain relief from a single injection.
Genzyme believes that Synvisc-One will simplify osteoarthritis pain management and provide added patient convenience, while reducing the overall cost of therapy associated with multiple injections and offering a treatment option that will expand the benefits of viscosupplementation to a broader number of patients.
“The European approval of Synvisc-One is based on positive clinical data which demonstrated that combining three doses of Synvisc in a single treatment is safe and effective in providing pain relief for up to six months in patients with knee osteoarthritis,” stated Ann Merrifield, president of Genzyme Biosurgery, the business unit of Genzyme Corp that manufactures and markets Synvisc.
“Delivering the benefits of Synvisc through one treatment rather than three will provide additional options for physicians and their patients to reduce the cost and burden of multiple injections.”
Genzyme will also pursue marketing approvals for Synvisc-One in wider geographies in Canada, Asia and Latin America based on the European CE mark approval.
Synvisc is currently delivered through three intra-articular administrations of two millilitres each given at one-week intervals.
