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Taiwan MSD branch wins award
(China Post Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)The Taiwan branch of Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), a world-renowned U.S. pharmaceutical maker, recently won the silver award of the National Quality Awards for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry for Emend, an anti-nausea and anti-vomiting drug that the company said would make cancer patients more willing to receive chemotherapy treatments.
"In the past cancer patients equated chemotherapy to vomiting and feeling nauseous. They thought nausea just came with chemotherapy," said Teck Koon Lim, director of MSD Taiwan's specialty care division.
"But little did they know that this was something that could be controlled, and Emend does a good job at that," he said.
Emend is a capsule taken orally. Its effectiveness as a supportive medicine for treating cancer had helped it win a National Quality Silver Award given by the Institute for Biotechnology and Medicine Industry, which awards products based on a number of criteria including innovation, safety and effectiveness, Lim said.
Clinical trials conducted by MSD and other medical institutions have concluded that Emend, when used along with other supportive treatment drugs, is 90 percent effective against acute nausea and emesis (vomiting) and 72 percent effective against delayed nausea and emesis, which usually take place a few days after receiving chemo, Lim said.
"Ours is the first pharmaceutical that, when used along with other supportive drugs, effectively controls the delayed nausea and vomiting mechanism," he said.
"With this drug, patients no longer need to put up with the feeling of nausea, which often makes them hesitant to receive another round of chemotherapy," he said.
"This could lead to potentially negative results as patients would miss the golden period for treatment," he added. "But with Emend, patients would feel much better about chemo and would be more willing to do it."
Emend is now covered by the national health insurance program. Before it entered the program in October 2005, it cost NT$715 per pill. As Emend is a prescription drug, patients need to consult with their doctors before taking it.
"If you feel very nauseous and vomit after the first round of chemo, you may consult with your doctor and he may ask you to take Emend before the second round," Lim said. "Then after the treatment, you should feel fine."
Cancer has become a top cause of death in Taiwan. Statistics has suggested one out of every four deaths in Taiwan is from cancer.
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