BEERSE, Belgium – Janssen PMP, a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, announced that its active substance ECONEA^® is recommended for inclusion into Annex I of the EU Biocidal Products Directive (BPD) 98/8/EC for Product Type 21: Antifouling Products.

Janssen PMP supports ECONEA (tralopyril) as a new antifouling active substance under the EU BPD. Following discussions at Biocides Technical Meetings, the UK Health & Safety Executive, which acts as the Rapporteur Member State for ECONEA, has issued the Draft Final Competent Authority Report (CAR), which includes a positive recommendation for Annex I inclusion of ECONEA.

“Making available the Draft Final CAR to the experts of the Member States Competent Authorities is a significant milestone in the EU evaluation process of ECONEA,” said Adrian Gray, Janssen PMP’s European Regulatory Manager. “The Draft Final CAR and the derived Assessment Report will form the basis for the discussion at Competent Authority meetings, which will take place in the second half of 2013, leading to a vote in the Standing Committee on the Approval of ECONEA under the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR, Regulation EU 528/2012), which will apply by that time.”

ECONEA is a copper replacement technology and represents the latest generation of active substances for use in antifouling paints to protect ship hulls and other marine structures against marine hard fouling organisms. Depending on the paint formulation, ECONEA can be as effective as cuprous oxide at about one-tenth the use concentration in the paint by weight.

Janssen PMP is a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, which forms part of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. Johnson & Johnson is headquartered in New Brunswick, NJ.