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`3/29/04 PHARMANIKT (No Page)
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`3/29/04 Pharma Marketletter (UK) (Pg. Unavail. Online)
`2004 WLNR 21943 944
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`Loaded Date: 01/21/2009
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`Pharma Marketletter
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`Copyright 2004 Marketletter Publications Ltd.
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`March 29, 2004
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`AstraZeneca's Faslodex meets unmet need in breast cancer.
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`Faslodex ( fulvestrant), the first new estrogen receptor antagonist since tamoxifen, has finally been launched by
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`AstraZeneca in Europe, two years after it has been available in the USA and South America. The product, which
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`boasts a unique mode of action, is now available in Germany, Sweden and Austria and will be rolled out over the next
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`year across the whole of the European Umon, including the EU accession countries, Iceland and Norway.
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`The drug acts by binding to estrogen receptors in breast cancer cells and degrading them. It therefore puts a stop to
`tumor estrogen receptor activity, preventing transcription occurring that promotes cell growth. Unlike aromatase
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`inhibitors, which prevent the synthesis of estradiol in other body tissues by blocking the aromatase enzyme, Faslodex
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`does not reduce the normal amount of circulating estradiol needed to help keep a normal lipid profile and healthy
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`cardiovascular system, prevent vaginal symptoms, maintain bone mineral density and protect cognitive function.
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`Faslodex is now licensed for post-menopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive locally-advanced or metastatic
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`breast cancer who have experienced disease progression on or after anti-estrogen therapy. There has been an unmet
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`need for an effective endocrine therapy which works in women who have become resistant to other hormonal treat-
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`ments including tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. The potential population for this in Europe is around 120,000
`women.
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`US medical oncologist John Pippen of Baylor Samrnons Cancer Center, Dallas, said the availability of Faslodex for a
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`similar indication in the USA has led to rapid uptake among thousands of women. Usually the next step would be
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`cytoxic chemotherapy treatment but Faslodex offers another strategy to delay this move and so has proved highly
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`popular. There is no cross-resistance between this drug and other hormonal treatments, he said.
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`Sales so far "beyond expectations"
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`Uptake has been "beyond expectation," says the company. Global brand director Sarah Holland says Faslodex has
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`been AstraZeneca's most successful honnonal cancer treatment at launch in the USA, reaching annual sales of $75
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`million by its second year.
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`© 2015 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.
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`AstraZeneca Exhibit 2066 p. l
`InnoPharma Licensing LLC v. AstraZeneca AB lPR2017-00900
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`3/29/04 PHARMAIVIKT (No Page)
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`Page 2
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`Speaking at the European launch during the 4th European Breast Cancer Conference in Hamburg, Germany, John
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`Robertson, head of Nottingham University's breast cancer unit in the UK, said the new drug, administered as a
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`once-monthly injection, improves 011 tamoxifen because, while it also blocks estrogen uptake by breast timiors it does
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`not have tamoxifen‘s partial estrogenic activity.
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`The latter is implicated in tamoxifen complications such as endometrial cancer, venous thrombo-embolism and
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`stimulation of tumor cells once estrogen receptors start to show resistance following around five years' therapy.
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`Faslodex is a better tolerated treatment than tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors, causing fewer troublesome side
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`effects in the way of hot flushes, joint disorders and vaginal symptoms.
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`Kurt Possinger, chairman of the Department of Oncology and Hematology, Huboldt University, Berlin, Germany,
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`said Faslodex is supported by two large trials comparing it against tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. The drug is
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`able to shrink breast tumors more than 50%. Compared against the aromatase inhibitor Arimidex (anastrozole), also an
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`AstraZeneca drug (see page 20), it has a significantly longer duration of response. Prof Possinger already believes it is
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`a better treatment than other endocrine therapies and could be used in preference to aromatase inhibitors after ta-
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`moxifen or, eventually, even before tamoxifen. "In my eyes it's the first-line therapy," he concluded.
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`---- INDEX REFERENCES ---
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`COIVIPANY: ASTRAZENECA; ASTRAZENECA LTD; ASTRAZENECA SA; ASTRAZENECA PHARMA-
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`CEUTICALS LP; ASTRAZENECA (NETHERLANDS ANTILLES); ASTRAZENECA (LATVIA); APTTUM
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`ONCOLOGY; ASTRAZENECA (NICARAGUA); ASTRAZENECA PLC
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`NEWS SUBJECT: (European Union (IEU94); EU News (lEU58); Major Corporations (1MA93); Health & Family
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`(1HE30); World Organizations (llN77))
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`INDUSTRY: (Healthcare Practice Specialties (1HE49); Internal Medicine (IIN54); Physical Science (IPH15);
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`Pharmaceuticals & Bioteclmology (IPHI3); Science (ISC89); Science & Engineering (ISC33); Oncology & He-
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`matology (ION95); Healthcare (1HE06); Cancer Drugs (ICA21))
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`REGION: (Central Europe (ICE50); North America (INO39); USA (1US73); Americas (IAM92); Germany
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`(lGEl6); Europe (lEU83); Western Europe (lWE4l))
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`Language: EN
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`OTHER INDEXING: (4TH EUROPEAN BREAST CANCER; ASTRAZENECA; BAYLOR SAMMONS CANCER
`CENTER; DEPARTMENT OF ONCOLOGY; EU; EUROPEAN UNION; HEMATOLOGY; HUBOLDT UNI-
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`VERSITY; NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY; UK; USA) (Faslodex; John Pippen; John Robertson; Kurt Possinger;
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`Possinger; Sarah Holland) (United States; United Kingdom)
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`© 2015 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.
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`AstraZeneca Exhibit 2066 p. 2
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`3/29/04 PHARMAMKT (No Page)
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`Page 3
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`KEYWORDS: (Business, international); (Product introduction); (New Products/Services); (FaslodeX (Medication));
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`(Faslodex (Medication) - Product introduction); (Product introduction); (Pharmaceutical industry); (Pharmaceutical
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`industry - Product introduction)
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`COlVIPANY TERMS: ASTRAZENECA PLC
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`TICKER SYlVIBOL: AZN
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`Word Count: 732
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`3/29/04 PHARMAMKT (No Page)
`END OF DOCUMENT
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`© 2015 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. US Gov. Works.
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`AstraZeneca Exhibit 2066 p. 3
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