Thai Regulator Approves REMITCH^® OD Tablets 2.5µg for Pruritus Relief

Tokyo, Japan, July 19, 2023 – Toray Industries, Inc., and Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd., announced today that Thai Meiji Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the latter company, obtained regulatory approval in Thailand last month to import and market REMITCH^® OD Tablets 2.5µg (generic name: nalfurafine hydrochloride; see note below) in that country. This medication is for hemodialysis patients finding existing cutaneous pruritus therapies and treatments ineffective.

REMITCH^® OD Tablets 2.5µg has been already marketed in Japan for dialysis patients and chronic liver disease sufferers similarly finding existing pruritus therapies and treatments ineffective.

In January 2019, Meiji Seika Pharma and Toray signed an agreement to develop and market this medicine in Thailand and Indonesia, thereafter developing it in those countries.

Thai Meiji Pharmaceutical filed an approval application with the Food and Drug Administration of Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health in April 2021. As well as marketing REMITCH^® OD Tablets 2.5µg in that nation, that company will also supply information about that medication. 

Through the marketing approval of REMITCH^® OD Tablets 2.5µg, Meiji Seika Pharma and Toray will offer hemodialysis patients across Thailand a new alternative for alleviating pruritus.

Note on REMITCH^® OD Tablets
Toray developed REMITCH^® as the world’s first highly selective kappa opioid receptor agonist. People can take these orally disintegrating tablets with or without water, helping to enhance medication compliance among those with fluid restrictions.