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At the annual SMaRT Awards last week in Birmingham, UK, Actavis were triumphant, winning Best POM to P Switch of the Year Award for Clamelle. The Clamelle training materials were also awarded Highly Commended in the Best Educational Initiative for Pharmacists category.

The SmaRT (Sales, Marketing and Retail Training) Awards, sponsored by Numark, exist to acknowledge the excellence of training initiatives and sales and marketing support programmes provided by drug manufacturers to pharmacists and their staff.

Best switch

Clamelle was awarded the title of Best POM to P switch in the pharmaceutical industry in 2008. Following the reclassification of azithromycin 500mg from prescription-only (POM) to pharmacy (P, OTC) medicine status, the Clamelle Chlamydia Test Kit and Clamelle Azithromycin 500mg tablets were launched in November 2008, under the banner of the Clamelle Chlamydia Service.

Competition in this category was fierce with Feminax Ultra (naproxen), Bayer and Voltarol (diclofenac), Novartis Consumer Health.

Excellent Educational Initiative

The Clamelle training materials which were prepared to support the launch of Clamelle were highly commended in this category. All UK pharmacists and pharmacy assistants received the training materials which were accredited by both NPA and CPP.

Actavis Group is pleased to announce that Clamelle Azithromycin 500mg Tablets and Clamelle Chlamydia Test Kits are now available for pharmacy distribution in the UK.

Clamelle Chlamydia Service

The Clamelle Chlamydia Service is a private service that is paid for by the consumer. It consists of the Clamelle Chlamydia Test Kit and Clamelle Azithromycin 500mg Tablets. The Clamelle test kit is purchased in a UK pharmacy, a urine sample posted off by the consumer to the laboratory and the result can be sent to the consumer by post or obtained from the pharmacy. If a confirmed positive test is received and if the treatment is deemed appropriate, following a sexual health consultation with the pharmacist, Clamelle Azithromycin 500mg Tablets can be supplied.

The Clamelle Chlamydia service is run jointly by Actavis, the NPA and Gordon Laboratory Group (GLG), a private laboratory which carries out the gold standard Nucleic Acid Amplification Technique (NAAT) testing, manages the test results and the Clamelle customer database.

Clamelle Chlamydia Test Kit and Tablets can only be sold by pharmacies that have registered with the NPA for the Clamelle Chlamydia service, obtained the NPA chlamydia resource pack and registered with GLG. Since the NPA launched the service three months ago, over 7,500 pharmacies have registered with the NPA and received the chlamydia resource pack. Read more…

Generic pharmaceutical company Actavis will launch its first ever over the counter (OTC) oral antibiotic in the UK.

Actavis, a generic drug manufacturer, has announced it will launch Clamelle Azithromycin at pharmacies across the UK – the first oral antibiotic available without a doctor’s prescription.

Clamelle is used for the treatment of people with chlamydia and for their sexual partners. The drug will be available in 500mg tablets and the dosage will be two tablets taken together as a single dose.

A pharmacy licence for Azithromycin was approved by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), after Actavis applied to switch Azithromycin tablets from prescription-only to pharmacy status.

Clamelle will be available for people 16 years and over if they have tested positive for the infection and have no symptoms, and for their sexual partners. Individuals will be able to obtain over the counter Clamelle from pharmacies following confirmation of diagnosis and a consultation with the pharmacist, and without a prescription from their GP or GUM clinic.

Sara Vincent, Manager of Actavis UK, said, “We are delighted to have been granted a pharmacy licence for Clamelle. This successful application is in line with Actavis UK’s programme of prescription-only to pharmacy switches, which is running in parallel with the expansion of the OTC brand portfolio through organic growth and strategic acquisitions.”

Actavis is currently developing training materials for UK pharmacies and finalising launch plans for Clamelle, as well as a chlamydia test kit.

Actavis is one of the world’s leading generic pharmaceutical companies specialising in the development, manufacture and sale of generic drugs. Based in Iceland, the company has operations in 40 countries and 11,000 employees.

More information on Clamelle and Actavis can be found at www.actavis.com

Contact:
Hjordis Arnadottir
Director – External Communications
Tel: (+354) 535 2300 / 840 7476
E-mail: harnadottir@actavis.com