The Hindu Business Line : Ranbaxy settles patent issue with AstraZeneca

New Delhi, April 15 Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, on Tuesday said it has reached several agreements with pharma major AstraZeneca that will result in revenues of $1-$1.5 billion over the next few years.

The most significant is an agreement to settle the patent infringement litigation filed by AstraZeneca against Ranbaxy’s generic version of ulcer drug Esomeprazole magnesium.

Under the settlement agreement, Ranbaxy conceded that all six patents asserted by AstraZeneca in the patent litigation were valid and enforceable. In return, Ranbaxy will be allowed to commence exclusive sales of a generic version of Nexium under a licence from AstraZeneca on May 27, 2014. During the 180-day period following the date, Ranbaxy Pharma will be the only company to distribute Esomeprazole magnesium product in the US market.

Ranbaxy had earlier arrived at similar patent settlements with other pharma companies including Merck, MBS, GSK and Astellas for various drugs with a combined market size of over $4 billion.

The two companies have separately entered into an agreement under which Ranbaxy will formulate a significant portion of AstraZeneca’s US supply of Nexium from May 2010, including provisions for the manufacture of Esomeprazole magnesium, the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) from May 2009.

Authorised generics

AstraZeneca and Ranbaxy have also entered into two other agreements designating Ranbaxy as the US distributor for the authorised generic versions of Felodipine Capsules (for hypertension and angina) and Omeprazole 40 mg tablets (short-term treatment of acid-related diseases).

“We expect that all these agreements together should get us revenues between $1 billion and $1.5 billion over the next few years. We will probably launch one of the authorised generics this year itself, some time in the second half of 2008,” Mr Malvinder Singh, CEO and Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories, told Business Line.

On the terms of the settlement agreement Mr Singh said, “We are pleased with the agreement which will provide certainty as to the launch of a generic formulation of Esomeprazole magnesium in the US market.”

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