The pharmaceuticals company, Roche, has won regulatory approval from the Swiss authorities for its hepatitis C treatment, Pegasys.
Switzerland is the first country to admit the drug, which was supposed to be the Basel-based firm's major launch this year.
Analysts in the pharmaceuticals sector say the development is important as it paves the way for the medicine to be passed in many Latin American countries which recognise Swiss decisions.
The verdict could help speed up global sales of the Interferon drug that it expected to generate turnover of up to SFr1 billion ($580 million) a year. It will be an important addition to Roche's palette at a time when the company has been hit by sluggish sales.
Pegasys uses a molecule developed by the US company, Shearwater Corporation. It received a setback in April when the US Food and Drug Administration said it wanted to see more information on its clinical trials.
The delay has allowed US rival, Schering-Plough, to gain a head start with its hepatitis C treatment, Rebetol.
Hepatitis C, a viral infection that can cause fatal liver problems, affects around 170 million people around the world.
All rights reserved. The content of the website by swissinfo.ch is copyrighted. It is intended for private use only. Any other use of the website content beyond the use stipulated above, particularly the distribution, modification, transmission, storage and copying requires prior written consent of swissinfo.ch. Should you be interested in any such use of the website content, please contact us via contact@swissinfo.ch.
As regards the use for private purposes, it is only permitted to use a hyperlink to specific content, and to place it on your own website or a website of third parties. The swissinfo.ch website content may only be embedded in an ad-free environment without any modifications. Specifically applying to all software, folders, data and their content provided for download by the swissinfo.ch website, a basic, non-exclusive and non-transferable license is granted that is restricted to the one-time downloading and saving of said data on private devices. All other rights remain the property of swissinfo.ch. In particular, any sale or commercial use of these data is prohibited.
