Ranbaxy to market Ethypharm's drug in India

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd on Wednesday said it has in-licensed a novel drug delivery analgesic, Tramadol, from Ethypharm LL India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of a French company.

"The Indian market of Tramadol is approximately Rs 15 crore annually," said Ajey Kumar, chief executive officer, Ethypharm LL India.

Tramadol is a drug of choice for severe pain in trauma cases, and is currently one of the four most commonly prescribed analgesics worldwide.

The product will be supplied from Ethypharm's manufacturing facility near Mumbai, and marketed and distributed by Ranbaxy under its brand name "Trambax", a Ranbaxy release said.

Ranbaxy's strategy is to provide products in novel drug discovery system to doctors in India, said Sanjeev Dani, regional director (India and Middle East).

Ranbaxy has a basket of 30 novel products in the NDDS space on pharmacy stores in the country. It has so far launched two in-licensed products and has five more such products in the pipeline during the year, the release said.

Ranbaxy shares closed at Rs 431 on the National Stock Exchange today, down 3.5 per cent from Tuesday.