Lincoln Pharmaceuticals Ltd (LPL) today announced the launch of what it called India's first long-acting paracetamol product, Pa 12, for long-term relief from fever and pain.

For the new drug delivery system, the BSE-listed company is targeting a 10-15 per cent market in the first year, out of the Rs 250-crore worth of market size in India for the prescribed paracetamol products, Mr Mahendra G Patel, Managing Director, told reporters here.

Essentially a medicine provided on a prescription, it would also be available over-the-counter (OTC) with a shelf-life of three years. The market size of government hospitals and generics is another Rs 1,000 crore, Mr Rajani G Patel, Joint MD, said.

Under the conventional treatment for fever and pain, patients are given 500 or 650 mg tablets of paracetamoil which may exhibit some limitation related to repeat doses in 24 hours. Moreover, the side-effect profile is more with higher frequency of dosage regimens. Pa 12, on the other hand, they stated, has been “programmed for non-stop service”, with a 1,000 mg tablet for 12-hour-long relief.

In a day, the patient would need only two tablets of Pa 12 instead of three or four conventional oral tablets.

In Pa, 300 mg of paracetamol is released for prompt symptomatic relief whereas the remaining 700 mg is meant for sustained release over 12 hours for non-stop therapeutic action.

Clinical trials of more than 500 patients at India's leading hospitals have established the efficacy and tolerability of this product in comparison to other brands available in the market, the Patels claimed. Pa 12 will be available in pharmacies in pack sizes of 12 tablets priced at Rs 36.

Currently, LPL is present in 25 countries, mainly in the semi-regulated markets of Africa, South East Asia and Latin America where it has registered nearly 300 products. “We also aim to reach the regulated markets of the US, Europe and Australia,” they said, adding LPL has applied for entry into Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal as well.

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