Ranbaxy ends patent row with Astellas

Ranbaxy Laboratories has reached an out-of-court agreement with Astellas and Boehringer Ingelheim on Astellas' urology medicine Flomax (Tamsulosin capsules) patent case in the United States.

While Japanese pharma firm Astellas holds the patent rights over the drug, German multinational Boehringer has the rights to sell it in the US.

Under the agreement, Ranbaxy, India's largest drug maker by sales, will enter the US on March 2, 2010, two months before the expiration of the exclusive marketing rights of Astellas and Boehringer.

Ranbaxy is expected to fetch $250 million worth sales from the drug during this period as it will be the only generic manufacturer to commercialise this product in the US.

IMS, an international market research organisation, estimates the current annual sales of Flomax in the US at $1.2 billion. The drug, meant for benign enlargement of prostate, has been registering a 10 per cent annual growth; and is expected to be worth $ 1.6 billion by 2010.

The company had recently announced a similar settlement with

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) over the GSK's herpes pill Valtrex. The settlement clauses with GSK have given Ranbaxy the exclusive rights to sell the generic version of Valtrex in the US by 2009-end.

The company is also expecting the launch the generic version of Pfizer's blockbuster cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor in March 2010.

"We are delighted on the settlement as it brings about certainity on the launch of this drug with an exclusivity before patent expiry," Malvinder Mohan Singh, chairman and managing director, Ranbaxy said.

The agreement with Boehringer has strengthened Ranbaxy's growth chances for 2010 as Tamsulosin is the third product on which Ranbaxy is to enjoy limited exclusive sales rights during 2009-10 period.