Strides in pact with US pharmaceutical firm

Strides Arcolab, a generic pharmaceuticals, company has announced that it has signed a licence agreement with New York Stock Exchange-listed K V Pharmaceutical Company, for exclusive marketing rights in the United States and Canada for 10 new generic drugs.

K V Pharma will also make an investment of $11.3 million in Strides through redeemable preference share, subject to the approval of shareholders of Strides Arcolab.

According to Arun Kumar group chief executive officer and managing director of Strides, "The agreement also includes exclusive marketing rights in Europe for two of the products, and provides for future collaboration between the companies beyond the initial 10 products".

"This agreement allows us to focus on our development and formulation capabilities while accelerating our entry into the US pharmaceutical marketplace," he added.

Under the agreement, Strides will develop and submit for regulatory approval and manufacture the 10 products.

This will collectively target product categories with aggregate branded market value of approximately $2 billion, according to IMS data.

ETHEX Corporation, KV's generic/non-branded division, will be responsible for exclusively marketing the products in the territories covered by the agreement.

The licenced products are expected to strengthen existing therapeutic areas of ETHEX as well as expand the division into new therapeutic categories. Initial products could be ready for submission to the United States Food and Drug Administration as early as KV's current fiscal year.

"This new generic collaboration with the outstanding team at Strides underscores our sharp focus on growing the product lines of our generic/non-branded business," said KV Vice Chairman and CEO Marc S Hermelin.