Come September, GlaxoSmithKline will join the pact between Ranbaxy Laboratories and Cipla to market the once-a-day dosage of ciprofloxacin.
"Glaxo is going to join in the co-marketing of the research product," D S Brar, managing director of Ranbaxy Laboratories, said while addressing a seminar organised by Ficci and the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance.
"Starting next month, Glaxo, Cipla and Ranbaxy Laboratories are going to co-market Ranbaxy's once-a-day ciprofloxacin," he added.
Confirming the development, a GlaxoSmithKline spokesperson said: "Yes, we are negotiating with Ranbaxy and are hopeful of reaching at an agreement."
The tie-up is primarily for the domestic markets and is to be marketed under their individual brand names of Cifran OD (of Ranbaxy Labs) and Ciplox OD (of Cipla).
It is not known at this stage, whether GlaxoSmithKline would also have a separate brand name. But analysts said it was more likely that the pharma multinational would market the drug under its own brand.
According to the present marketing pact between Ranbaxy and Cipla, Ranbaxy would manufacture this drug for both companies. This particular dosage form of this antibacterial is from Ranbaxy's novel drug delivery system research pipeline.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange today, the GlaxoSmithKline scrip ended at Rs 277.55, up 2.85 per cent, while Ranbaxy and Cipla ended marginally up at Rs 650.3 and Rs 1304.6 respectively.
