Altana Pharma and Solvay Healthcare are to launch a novel 'time-swap' co-promotional agreement to make the most of their salesforces' time in front of doctors.

The agreement will see Altana promote Solvay's angiotensin antagonist hypertension drug Teveten while the Solvay sales team will promote Protium, Altana's proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drug for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) in addition to their own products.

"We are in a liberating position of being able to implement a straightforward time-swap without money changing hands," says Dr John Peter, chief executive of Solvay Healthcare. "Whilst bigger companies may have more clout in the market place, medium-sized companies have the advantage of flexibility, and we are harnessing this to find creative solutions for making our presence felt in these highly competitive markets.

"This is a grown-up relationship based on a high level of trust," added Jonathan Fairley, chief executive and managing director of Altana Pharma UK. "Both salesforces were trained and are now out there detailing, within days of the contract being signed. Simple, effective relationships like this one, which generate extra detailing time for priority products from existing salesforces are likely to be an important option for small-to-medium-sized companies in the future."

The companies hope the agreement will help both products maintain strong growth - Protium is now the second-fastest growing branded PPI in the UK market, while Teveten sales grew 34% in 2003, outstripping the growth for its therapy area by 8%.

The companies say the agreement is open-ended and will continue for as long as both companies consider it to be mutually beneficial.

pharmafocus@pharmafile.co.uk