Somaxon Pharmaceuticals Inc, a specialty pharmaceutical company, has established a commercial team to promote Silenor (doxepin) for the treatment of insomnia characterized by difficulties with sleep maintenance.
On July 14, 2010, Somaxon entered into a Professional Detailing Services Agreement with Publicis Touchpoint Solutions Inc pursuant to which Publicis will provide Somaxon with 110 sales representatives on a contract basis who will exclusively promote Silenor. These representatives will be employees of Publicis but will be hired to Somaxon’s specifications and will be managed by Somaxon’s recently hired team of sales management personnel.
"We are excited to continue to execute on our corporate strategy by hiring a dedicated specialty sales team for Silenor, which will target the highest prescribers of insomnia drugs, including psychiatrists, neurologists, and high-prescribing primary care physicians, with the goal of supporting an October launch," said Richard W. Pascoe, Somaxon’s president and CEO. "In addition, we continue to engage in discussions with third parties relating to the commercialization of Silenor, and we believe that this specialty sales force structure and our marketing plan will provide us with the flexibility needed to complement the promotional efforts of any strategic collaborator in the marketing of Silenor."
Silenor is a low-dose (3 mg, 6 mg) oral tablet formulation of doxepin that is patent protected for use in insomnia. The Silenor NDA was approved in March 2010 for the treatment of insomnia characterized by difficulties with sleep maintenance. The NDA included all of the data from the company’s development program, including data from Somaxon’s clinical trial program that evaluated 1,017 subjects exposed to Silenor from 12 studies.
"With trade and sample manufacturing nearing completion, our marketing campaign fully developed, our pricing and managed care strategy finalized, and the commercial team build-out soon to be completed, we look forward to introducing our highly differentiated insomnia product to the highest prescribing physicians in the US insomnia market," said Jeff Raser, Somaxon’s chief commercial officer.
