Zydus Cadila launches Pitavastatin, a cholesterol fighting product

Ahmedabad-based Rs 1,170 crore Zydus Cadila Healthcare Ltd which had entered into the statin product segment with the launch of Atorvastatin three years back, on Monday introduced Pitavastatin, its second product in the segment and launched for the first time in the country.

Cadila Healthcare which has already established its Atorva formulation as a Rs 20 crore brand, targets to generate Rs 5 crore in first year from Pitava, the latest statin in the world.

The pharmaceutical major alongwith Ranbaxy Laboratories are the two key players in Atorvastatin segment. It has also decided to export Pitava.

Ganesh Nayak, executive director of Cadila Healthcare, talking to Business Standard on Monday, said, "Pitava is sythesised as an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and the company also produces the formulation in tablets form at its state-of-the-art plant at Moraiya, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Pitava, which would be available in strengths of 1 mg and 2 mg tablets, enables aggressive lipid management in patients suffering from high levels of cholesterol and with this launch, the company's existing cardiac care portfolio comprising of anti-hypertensives, lipid lowering agents and others, now will be further strengthened."

Cadila Healthcare, which is currently one of the top three players in the cardiovascular market valued at Rs 2,272 crore, also would soon take Pitava to countries in the South-East Asia region and to African countries, known as major non-regulated markets.

"We are doing well with our first statin product Atorva with impressive sales in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and other countries in the region, apart from the Africa. The company will also be exporting Pitava considering the statin demand in these overseas markets," said Nayak.

Pitavastatin was patented by Kowo, Japan in 1995 and it took almost ten years for an Indian entity to launch the product in the country.

The statin market in India is at present estimated at Rs 227 crore and is expected to cross Rs 300 crore next year. Apart from Atorvastatin and Pitavastatin, other statins available in the Indian market are, Lovastatin, Simvastatin, Pravastatin, Rosuvastatin.

Statins are a class of drugs, which lower the level of blood cholesterol. It may be mentioned here that it was the third new molecule launched in the cardiovascular segment by the company in the last two years. The company had earlier launched Zytanix, a diuretic and Aggramed, a drug for acute coronary syndrome. Both Zytanix and Aggramed were also launched for the first time in India by the company.

The company only a few days back filed its first ever investigational new drug (IND) application for a new molecular entity (NME), 'ZY H1' with the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). The novel agent for treatment of metabolic disorders has been designed and developed by Zydus Research Centre (ZRC), its research wing in Ahmedabad.