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Richter’s current top drug Vraylar was sold last year for a total of EUR 3 billion and treated 1.3 million patients, the CEO of Richter announced at a press conference on Friday. The company’s development success story also continues with an anti-obesity agent in its most advanced phase, reports Magyar Nemzet.
The cariprazine-based antipsychotic Vraylar (adjunctive therapy to antidepressants for the treatment of major depressive disorder in adults) has made the list of the top 100 drugs, emphasized Gábor Orbán, CEO of Richter Gedeon. The original antipsychotic drug is available in pharmacies in Hungary and has become a blockbuster product in the U.S. The fact that a Hungarian drug candidate, discovered in Hungary and developed with Hungarian financial and technical support, has been granted FDA and EU registrations and is now available in 64 countries, is a unique achievement.
Gábor Orbán. Photo via Gedeon Richter Plc.
The CEO outlined the aim of the Richter Innovation Ecosystem Model, which is to
develop Hungary’s innovation capabilities by identifying and exploiting new scientific ideas.
Regarding the new developments, István Greiner, Director of Research&Development (R&D), noted that the company is in the more advanced phase (phase 2) of developing an active substance against obesity.
This anti-obesity substance, which is being developed for the treatment of obesity, will also act on patients via neuropsychiatric pathways (via the brain, to reduce the feeling of hunger).
Photo via Gedeon Richter Plc.
E. Sylvester Vizi, Chairman of the Board at RG, recalled that 90 percent of diseases at the beginning of the 21st century are so-called diseases of civilization, and most of them are related to the central nervous system, which could provide a promising future for the company, as it also focuses on this area. He also pointed out that “One of the secrets of Richter’s success is that they are able to incorporate this in-country pharmacological knowledge into drug development. Apart from us, perhaps only Switzerland can be considered such a country. (…) The knowledge of Hungarian workers is enormous, and it creates products and results that are truly exportable and sell well abroad, and this is the hallmark of a truly multinational, successful Hungarian company.
For this to continue, we need to make use of the intellectual capital that exists in our country, and Richter is at the forefront of this in Hungary.”
The largest European psychiatric conference of the year (EPA 2024 – European Congress of Psychiatry) is currently taking place in Budapest (April 6-9, 2024), in which Richter is an active participant, as the company’s original research focuses on a wide range of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.
The story of Gedeon Richter Plc. goes way back to 1901, when the founder, pharmacist Gedeon Richter bought the Sas Pharmacy, which is still operating and owned by the company. It was in the pharmacy’s laboratory where Richter not only established his company, but also laid the foundation for the entire Hungarian pharmaceutical industry.
Gedeon Richter. Photo via Wikipedia
Via Magyar Nemzet, Richter Gedeon; Featured image via Facebook/Richter Gedeon Nyrt.