NaPPS – a substance with a successful history

In 1947 Dr Wilhelm Benend first synthesized a new substance called pentosan polysulphate sodium (PPS). What began in a small laboratory led two years later to the establishment of Dr Benend KG. PPS became highly popular among doctors and patients alike and to this day remains a mainstay of international medicine.

PPS is chemically related to Heparin. It is produced semisynthetically from vegetable material via an extremely difficult and laborious synthesis process. PPS, which also has a similar effect to Heparin, is used in a variety of therapeutic fields, such as thrombosis prophylaxis, the treatment of phlebitis, reducing blood fat levels, treating urological disorders, and more.

 

Because of the versatility of PPS it is widely used in research, especially in the clinical fields of cancer, joint disorders and urological ailments, and today it is employed in a variety of preparations in over 30 different countries throughout the world.

bene-Arzneimittel GmbH, the world’s sole manufacturer of pentosan polysulphate sodium, can now look back on 50 years of production experience. Not least due to this know-how, in 1992 bene was granted an FDA license for the existing production facilities. This represented a vital first step towards the subsequent licensing in the United States of the PPS-containing drug Elmiron.

Since 1996 Elmiron has been used with great success in the USA and Canada in the treatment of severe and painful cystitis.

Five decades of intensive research into pentosan polysulphate sodium, and the wide experience bene-Arzneimittel GmbH has thus gained in this field, have led to the development of numerous PPS-based medications.