Xechem launches sickle cell drug Nicosan in Nigeria

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, July 11 - Xechem International, Inc. said Tuesday that its subsidiary, Xechem Pharmaceuticals Nigeria, launched its new sickle cell drug Nicosan at a July 6 ceremony presided over by Nigeria's president, chief Olusegun Obasanjo and broadcast throughout the country.

Days earlier, the drug was approved by Nigeria's drug and regulatory authority, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, according to a company news release.

Xechem said it has obtained the exclusive worldwide rights to manufacture, market and sell Nicosan under a licensing agreement with Nigeria's National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, a federal governmental agency whose scientists are credited with developing the drug.

In remarks made at the launching ceremony, Obasanjo commended Xechem for its success in bringing this important drug to market and for validating the government of Nigeria's efforts to commercialize locally developed technologies, the release said.

Nicosan is an anti-sickling "natural herbal drug" developed by Nigerian scientists at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and licensed by Xechem.

In clinical studies conducted under the national agency's auspices, the drug has shown to substantially reduce the degree of sickling of the affected red blood cells of those afflicted with the disease, officials said.

While not a cure for sickle cell disease, the clinical trials have confirmed that the large majority of patients taking Nicosan no longer experience sickle cell "crises" while on the medication, and even among those whose crises are not eliminated, the number and severity of the crises are substantially reduced, officials said.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood disorder caused by an abnormality in the hemoglobin molecule. Patients with the disease often produce stiff, abnormally shaped red blood cells that often do not flow freely through the blood vessels.

This can create clogs in the vessels, which in turn cut off the flow of normal hemoglobin and oxygen to parts of the body, and can cause severe painful attacks or "crises," damage to various organs and shortened life spans.

In the United States, there are about 80,000 patients with the disease. In Nigeria, that number is believed to be about 4 million, and worldwide at least 12 million individuals are afflicted with sickle cell disease.

Xechem is a New Brunswick, N.J., biopharmaceutical company working on products from natural sources, including microbial and marine organisms.

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