Richter drug wins Innovation Grand Prize

Erik Bogsch, chairman of Gedeon Richter, accepts the Innovation Grand Prize in Parliament.

Cariprazine is an orally administered atypical antipsychotic that was invented by Richter’s researchers and later developed together with Allergan (formerly Forest / Actavis) to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to a press release sent to the Budapest Business Journal.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cariprazine capsules in September 2015 for treating adult patients suffering from bipolar I disorder associated with manic and mixed episodes and schizophrenia. The product was introduced on the U.S. market under the brand name Vraylar on March 16, 2016.

The European Commission issued the marketing license for cariprazine in the EU in July 2017 for the treatment of adult schizophrenic patients. Reimbursement negotiations for the product marketed in Europe under the brand name Reagila are currently underway in several EU countries, and the drug will be introduced in these countries this year and the next.

The laudatory address praising cariprazine at the ceremony highlighted that the key result of the product innovation honored by the award is an original drug primarily manufactured in Hungary, developed by Hungarian scientific researchers and developers, and with marketing authorization for over 70% of the global pharmaceutical market.

“This is the first drug licensed in the United States that was invented by the researchers of a Hungarian-based pharmaceutical company and pre-clinical research and development were carried out by the same Hungarian company,” said Richter Chairman Erik Bogsch. “As the clinical development stage incurred high costs, we involved a partner, so we were able to get to the final stage of obtaining the marketing license by joint funding and management,” he added.