Prographarm Launces FlashTab in Italy

Prographarm (Paris) will launch its FlashTab oral drug formulation in Italy in collaboration with Angelini Richerche (Rome), a leading Italian OTC analgesics company. The product, Tachipirna Flashtab 500 (a formulation of acetaminophen), is flavored and designed to dissolve rapidly in the mouth without water. Like other FlashTab products, Tachipirna Flashtab consists of micronized active coated with a taste-masking, rapidly dissolving excipient.

FlashTab offers quick-dissolve, taste-masking,
and tailored pharmacokinetics for both OTC and
prescription medications.

Prographarm's entry into the Italian marketplace follows the recent launch in France of pediatric FlashTab Paracetamol, under the trademark Febrectol, in 125 mg and 250 mg dosages. According to Prographarm Dolflash, an adult version (500 mg) of the Febrectol products, has been eagerly received by the French. Dolflash is markted by Sanofi-Synthelab.

Will 1999 Be the Year of the FlashTab?
PrograPharm believes this might just be the "year of the FlashTab" as drug manufacturers look to add value and extend profitability of both OTC and proprietary products. "Designing fast-dissolving tablets represents the next struggle for controlling the dry oral dosage form marketplace," said Yacine Benkritly, marketing manager at PrograPharm. The next target launches for FlashTab will be in pediatric markets in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden, and Spain.

FlashTab formulations can be tailor-made to any desired pharmacokinetic profile. Pictured here is an enhanced adsorption form where the FlashTab product is adsorbed faster than a standard formulation.

Laurent Di Costanzo, general manager of Prographarm, believes his product offers the best value in fast-dissolving orodispersible dosage forms. According to Di Costanzo FlashTab has been readily accepted both by consumers and manufacturers. "FlashTab can find uses in many oral drugs, yet it is inexpensive enough to compete with leading over-the-counter analgesics," DiCostanzo stated.

After dissolution and swallowing, FlashTab can be made to release its active ingredient slowly in a type of sustained release.

PrograPharm has been looking into alternative oral delivery markets since the early 1990s. Like many drug firms, it sees novel oral dosage forms as a way to add value to existing products, extend (or create) market exclusivity, and break into poor-compliance markets such as pediatrics and geriatrics. FlashTab certainly fits the bill as a "novel" delivery form: It requires no water, is easily swallowed, releases the active ingredient according to predefined release schemes (see figures). And if its success so far with acetaminophen is any indication, FlashTab can apparently hide the taste of almost any drug.

For more information: M. Yacine Benkritly, Marketing Manager, Prographarm Group, 29, rue Vernet, 75008 Paris, France. Tel: +33-1-5357-4658. Fax: +33-1-5357-4647.

By Angelo DePalma