Advitech enters France and Belgium via pharma

This represents a major shift in direction for the Quebec-based company as it initially unveiled Dermylex as a dietary supplement ingredient, then formulated it into a product, and now comes the news it is partnering with the manufacturer of dermatological and gynecological products for the European pharmaceutical industry. "There is a new interest from psoriasis patients for products like Dermylex and, after analysis by our experts of the scientific and technical documentation available on Dermylex, we are confident to effectively position Dermylex in the French and Belgian dermatologic markets,"​ said Pierre-Marie Defrance, president and chairman of Iprad Group. Psoriasis, is an inflammatory skin condition for which, in its mild to medium forms, topical therapies or aggressive drug treatments have typically been used. However, these are accompanied by significant side effects and as such Advitech saw an opportunity to launch its gentler ingredient. Dermylex is a patented blend of naturally derived bioactive peptides that comes in the form of a tablet to be taken orally. After numerous years of development, Advitech has begun to roll out Dermylex via distribution agreements with companies such as Canadian Jamieson Laboratories and most recently two partners in the US. "With this agreement for the French and Belgian markets, added to last week's partnership announcement with Thorne Research and Diversified Natural Product for the U.S. market, Advitech is now active in two of the most important markets for dermatological products,"​ said Renaud Beauchesne, president and CEO of Advitech. Under the agreement, the distribution of Dermylex in these two new markets for the company is set to begin in the third quarter of 2007 and the product will be available in a network of more than 22,000 drugstores. Last week the companies carried out a promotional launch in Paris at the 2nd International Congress on Psoriasis. In North America, Advitech has employed another tactic and secured numerous athletic spokespeople to represent the branded product. The recent deals with Thorne Research and Diversified Natural Products were also steps into new territory for Advitech as New York-based DNP markets specialty ingredients and Thorne specializes in the health practitioners segment.