Hoffmann-La Roche has developed a PEGylated interferon alpha-2a, Pegasys, for the potential treatment of chronic hepatitis C and hepatitis B virus infection. It was first approved in Switzerland in August 2001 [418260] and was expected to be launched in September/October 2001 [419333]. In May 2000, Roche submitted a BLA to the US FDA, for approval to market Pegasys for the treatment of chronic HCV infection in non-cirrhotic and cirrhotic patients with compensated liver disease [329872], [348368], [367781]. Approval was still pending in December 2000 [387363], [392481]. Roche expects the US launch to take place in the second half of 2001 [400857]. In April 2001, Roche received a complete response letter from the FDA for Pegasys and was working with the FDA to address the questions raised in the letter [407595], [418310]. In August 2001, Roche expected approval for HCV in the US in 2002 and for HBV in 2004 [419333]. At this time, Roche planned to file an sNDA for combination with ribavirin [421285]. By March 2001, EU and Canadian filings had been made [401793]. Roche also planned to launch the product for chronic HBV infection and various malignancies in 2004 and 2005, respectively [400857]. Pegasys was filed for registration in Brazil in the first part of 2000 [418310]. As of December 1999, the drug was in phase II for HCV infection in Japan. It is being developed by Nippon Roche, which intended to extrapolate foreign phase III data for use in an NDA application in Japan [351804]. As a result of a meeting of Japan's PMSB in March 2001, Pegasys may be given priority in the review of its NDA, if submitted [403782]. In August 2001, Schering-Plough entered into a licensing agreement with F Hoffman-La Roche Ltd and Hoffmann-La Roche Inc that settles all patent disputes regarding the two companies' PEGinterferon products. Under the terms of the agreement, Schering-Plough and Roche will cross license to each other all patents applicable to Peg-Intron and Pegasys. The settlement agreement also includes a Schering-Plough sublicense of Enzon's branched PEG patents to Roche [418935], [418956]. Roche is collaborating with Maxim Pharmceuticals to develop PEG-IFN alpha-2a in conjunction with Maxim's Maxamine [378609]. In July 1998, Hoffmann-La Roche and Weston Medical signed a global agreement to license INTRAJECT (Weston's single-use, disposable, prefilled, needle-free injector for subcutaneous delivery of injectable liquid pharmaceuticals) for delivery of Pegasys [292119]. In April 1999, ABN Amro predicted annual sales of SFr 25 million in 2000, rising to SFr 75 million in 2002 [328676]. In September 2000, Merrill Lynch predicted sales of SFr 70 million in 2001, rising to SFr 700 million in 2004 [383742]. In March 2001, Deutsche Bank estimated that the product has sales potential of SFr 1600 million [421009].