Price war begins for Novartis cardiac drug as JB Pharma cuts rate by 50%

Novartis' blockbuster drug is set to lose patent in Jan; JB Pharma, one of the four marketers in India of generi versions, has slashed the price of its brand Azmarda to Rs 39.6 a tablet

JB Pharma on Monday likely kicked off a price war after it cut by half the price of Azmarda, a cardiac drug patented by Novartis. 

The Rs 500-crore market of sacubitril-valsartan. the combination used in Azmarda, has a CAGR of around 30 per cent. The Mumbai-based firm said that the combination was currently prescribed to 30-35 per cent of patients suffering from heart failure, and doctors believed that 50-60 per cent of patients could be prescribed this drug if it became more affordable. 

Novartis-patented Vymada, which JB Pharma sells under the brand name Azmarda, is set to go out of patent in