New Delhi: There is some good news for the Indian pharma industry. Ranbaxy and its Israeli counterpart Teva have been granted 180 days exclusivity for manufacturing cholesterol reducing drug Zocor.
It was granted by a US court. Zocor is the second - largest selling drug in the 20 billion dollar-a-year cholesterol market. The drug had sales worth $4.3 billion last year.
Earlier, the US Food and Drug Administration had rejected a bid by Teva and Ranbaxy for exclusive rights to the drug manufactured by Merck after its patent expired on the 23rd of June.
But the US court has found this rejection to be ‘unlawful’. Now the two companies will have exclusive rights to sell the drug for six months post patent expiry This allows them to sell the drug at a higher price and set up distribution deals.
The drug currently costs about $4 and $50 and 50 cents per tablet.
The exclusivity begins in late June, immediately after the drug comes off patent in the US. Zocor was Merck's biggest selling drug in recent quarters.
Earlier Ranbaxy acquired Ethimed in Belgium. Ranbaxy termed the Ethimed acquisition as modest compared with the Terapia deal. This acquisition is a part of Ranbaxy's Europe expansion plan.
The company has also bought Allen SpA-GlaxoSmithKline Plc's generic business in Italy-on Tuesday for an undisclosed amount.
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