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New Delhi , Aug. 28

MOREPEN Laboratories Ltd (MLL) has completed an export order worth $15 million of Loratadine, an antihistamine, since January this year.

Loratadine had gone off-patent in December and subsequently became an over the counter (OTC) product in December 2002, resulting in a huge surge in demand for the drug. Morepen is poised to reap the benefits due to its significant Loratadine capacities and international tie-ups including that with Geneva Pharma and Gen Pharma, according to a company communiqué issued here on Thursday.

Morepen is the sole supplier of Loratadine to Geneva Pharma, the first Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) filer. But Geneva's own six-month exclusivity on marketing Loratadine came to an end recently.

Morepen expects to clock a business of more than $20 million in the current calendar year, with the prices of Loratadine having stabilized in the international market.

Meanwhile, Morepen has already launched Ranitidine, an anti-ulcer drug, in the US market through MorepenMax, a joint venture company between Morepen and Florida based DrugMax. Morepen is also getting ready to file the ANDA for Loratadine and Atorvastatin in the US market. Atorvastatin has a market size of more than $10 billion. Recently, MLL had filed the DMF (Drug Master File) for the drug Fluvastatin Sodium, a cholesterol-lowering drug belonging to the Statin family.

This drug has an estimated market size of $ 500 million globally and is growing at the rate of 25 per cent. The company is also ready to file the DMF for Des Loratadine, an anti-histamine.

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