TOKYO, July 23, 2025 - (JCN Newswire) - Eisai Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo, CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”) and KYORIN Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.(Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President and CEO: Yutaka Ogihara, “KYORIN”) announced today that Eisai (Thailand) Marketing Co., Ltd. (“Eisai Thailand”), a subsidiary of Eisai, has launched overactive bladder treatment Beova® Tablets (generic name vibegron) in Thailand.
In 2021, Eisai acquired exclusive development and marketing rights from KYORIN for the agent in ASEAN member states Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei. Eisai Thailand submitted an application for marketing authorization in Thailand in March 2023, and received approval in June 2024. This launch is the first within Eisai’s licensed region. In addition to the release in Thailand, approval has also been obtained in the Philippines and Malaysia, with preparations underway for market entry.
Overactive bladder (OAB) is a urological condition with trouble in pooling urine in the bladder. It's predominant symptom is an urge to urinate, which is often accompanied by frequent urination and nocturia, and in some cases by urge urinary incontinence. One of the major problems of OAB is the fact that patients refrain from leaving the house due to anxiety about going to the bathroom, cannot get enough sleep at night, or face limitations in their daily activities, which could lead to significantly-reduced quality of life.
Appropriate treatment is necessary for OAB, which increases with age but has also been reported to becaused by brain or spinal cord disorders such as cerebrovascular diseases (cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral infarction), Parkinson's disease, and benign prostatic hyperplasia.1 The prevalence of OAB in Thailand is reported to be 15.8%.2
This agent is a selective B3-adrenergic receptor agonist administered once daily, acting selectively on B3 receptors in the bladder, relaxing the bladder to enhance urine collection, and consequently improving the symptoms of urgency, urinary frequency and urge urinary incontinence associated with OAB.
In September 2009, KYORIN and Eisai signed a license agreement for the development and marketing in Asia of Uritos® Tablets (generic name: imidafenacin), a therapeutic agent for overactive bladder, discovered and developed by KYORIN, and as of today Eisai sells Uritos in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. In addition to Uritos, Eisai will provide patients with new treatment options for OAB through the launch of Beova in Thailand and make further contributions to improving the quality of life and increasing benefits to patients with OAB in Asia.
1. About Eisai Co., Ltd.
Eisai's Corporate Concept is "to give first thought to patients and people in the daily living domain, and to increase the benefits that health care provides." Under this Concept (also known as human health care (hhc) Concept), we aim to effectively achieve social good in the form of relieving anxiety over health and reducing health disparities. With a global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to create and deliver innovative products to target diseases with high unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology.
In addition, we demonstrate our commitment to the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which is a target(3.3) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by working on various activities together with global partners.
For more information about Eisai, please visit www.eisai.com, and connect with us on X, LinkedIn and Facebook.
2. About KYORIN Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
KYORIN operates under the corporate philosophy, "KYORIN continues to fulfil it's mission of cherishing life and benefiting society by contributing to better health." Based on this principle, we aim to continuously provide high-valuenew drugs that meet medical needs, striving to become a company that contributes broadly to people's health. In drug discovery, we focus our research efforts on the therapeutic areas of pain and autoimmune disorders etc., working to create innovative new drugs that meet significant medical needs. In sales, we implement a Franchise Customer (FC) strategy, concentrating our resources on specialized areas, respiratory, otolaryngology, and urology.
For more information on KYORIN Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., please visit https://www.kyorin-pharm.co.jp/en/.
3. About vibegron
Vibegron was discovered by Merck & Co., Rahway, N.J., U.S.A. (known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada) as a once-daily oral treatment for overactive bladder (OAB), which acts selectively on the bladder's B3-adrenergic receptor agonists. Vibegron selectively acts on B3 receptors in the bladder and increases bladder capacity by enhancing the bladder-relaxing effect of noradrenaline during the urinary storage phase, resulting in the improvement of incontinence symptoms of urinary urgency, frequent urination and urge urinary incontinence with OAB. KYORIN has obtained exclusive rights for developing, manufacturing and marketing of this drug in Japan (July 2014) and Asia* (April2017) from Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., U.S.A.
In Eisai’s licensed territories (Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei), in addition to it's new launch in Thailand, approvals have been obtained in the Philippines and Malaysia, with preparations underway for market entry. In Japan, KYORIN and Kissei have jointly developed the agent locally under a co-development and co-marketing agreement entered into as of March 2016. Since November 2018, the two companies have been jointly marketing it under the product name of “Beova® Tablets 50mg”.
*South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and 10 member states of ASEAN
1 Clinical Guidelines for Overactive Bladder Syndrome 3rd Edition (Japanese only)
2 ICS2024 Abstract 554 https://www.ics.org/2024/abstract/554
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