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06-05-2010 | Early Market Success For Levest Contraceptive
Levest®, the latest combined oral contraception (COC), provided by Morningside Healthcare Ltd., has already been widely listed by the majority of the retail pharmacy wholesalers and multiples including Boots and Lloyds, as well as winning an NHS contract as the preferred drug of its type for hospitals in England.1.
The cost-effective drug, Levest®, is a combined oral contraceptive pill which contains Levenogesterel 150 μg and Ethinylestradiol 30 μg.
Costing £2.55 per 63 tablets, or the equivalent of just £0.85 per cycle, Levest® is an impressive 10 per cent cheaper than Microgynon®302 (which costs £2.82 per 63 tablets, £0.94 per cycle). With an estimated one million women in England currently prescribed this combined oral contraceptive pill, the potential cost savings for the NHS in England are in excess of £1 million a year3.
Levest® is fast securing support across GP surgeries and hospitals alike. Dr Al-Azzawi, Consultant Gynaecologist, said: “I am confident that Levest is an effective and reliable contraceptive. The clinical data demonstrates that Levest is bioequivalent to Microgynon 30 and can be prescribed in place of it without any loss of contraceptive efficacy.”
While Dr Tew, GP and partner in one of Leicester’s largest surgeries, said: “The switch from Microgynon to Levest was a clear decision for my practice. The clinical data shows that Levest is essentially similar to Microgynon 30 and so I am reassured that the choice is a good one for my patients and for my practice."
Recently published trial data covering 10.4 million women years of COC usage supports earlier studies which indicate that combined oral contraceptive pills containing Levenogesterel have the lowest increase in risks of venous thromboembolism4,5 compared with other COCs containing gestodene, desogestrel or drospirenone.
Danesh Gadhia, Director at Morningside Healthcare, is encouraged by these early results for Levest® and states: “The success for Levest® is down to the awareness that it is significantly cheaper for health care professionals to prescribe, whilst containing identical active ingredients to Microgynon®30.”
Levest® marketing campaign, ‘Essentially similar’
Morningside Healthcare is generating widespread awareness of Levest® through an integrated marketing campaign including a series of adverts targeting healthcare professionals highlighting the cost efficiency and medical efficacy of Levest®.
In addition, an intensive sales campaign together with PR communications to health care professionals is backed up with resources for PCTs and pharmacists who can download more information from the dedicated Levest® website (www.levest.com) .
Morningside Healthcare has been established since 2001 and has been successfully licensing and supplying generic products to the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and worldwide. Its product licences cover a broad range of therapeutic categories.
Levest® is available now from all mainline wholesalers.
Note to editors:
1 From 1 February 2010; contract periods vary depending on NHS regions. Specific end dates can be obtained from Morningside Healthcare
2 Microgynon®30 is a registered trade mark of Bayer Group, Germany
3 Prescription Cost Analysis: England 2008
4 Reference: Øjvind Lidegaard et al; Hormonal contraception and risk of venous thromboembolism: national follow up. BMJ 2009; 339:b2890
5 Reference: Van Hylckama Vlieg et al; The venous thrombotic risk of oral contraceptives, effects of oestrogen dose and progestogen type: results of the MEGA case-control study. BMJ 2009;339:b2921
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