Release issued 1st December 2003

1st December 2003

Mucodyne usage grows in COPD

Beacon Pharmaceuticals Ltd have spent two years further developing the mucolytic, Mucodyne (carbocisteine) and applying to the UK Department of Health to gain appropriate reimbursement. There have been significant developments with the publication of new evidence that has been sufficient to bring about the removal of mucolytics from Schedules 10 & 11 of the NHS (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992 effective from 1st February 2003. This reverses their "blacklisting" that has been in place since 1985, such that mucolytics are now available and reimbursable on NHS prescription for COPD.

There has been considerable sales growth since this time resulting from the activity of Beacon's Hospital sales team. Most hospital specialists now use Mucodyne in those COPD patients that have a cough exacerbated by mucus.

The prescribing restrictions on carbocisteine for the treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) or other respiratory conditions exacerbated by mucous has caused inconvenience to many patients who had previously gained benefit from mucolytics and were unable to afford them after "blacklisting".

In the past, clinical opinion on the use of oral mucolytics in treating COPD has been inconclusive and usage had been limited by lack of NHS reimbursement. The key problem was that, because mucolytics had been available for such a long period of time, there were insufficient quality randomised controlled studies demonstrating efficacy. However, the recent systematic review by Poole and Black (BMJ 26 May 2001, 322, 1271-1275) of 23 placebo controlled trials clearly showed that mucolytics were of benefit in COPD patients by reducing both the number and duration of acute exacerbations of this condition.

There was an annualised exacerbation rate of 2.7 /patient/year in the control group. Regular use of mucolytics was associated with a reduction of 0.79 exacerbations /patient/year (0.07 exacerbations/patient/month, P

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