Pharma company Ranbaxy Laboratories has entered into a long-term drug discovery and development agreement with the US-based pharma company Merck in the area of anti-infective medicines. Ranbaxy could earn over $100 million on each drug developed through the collaborative research programme. The agreement, announced on Monday, calls for joint research to develop clinically validated anti-bacterial and anti-fungal drug candidates.
The US arm of Ranbaxy pleaded guilty to seven felonies relating to the manufacture and distribution of certain adulterated drugs
WakeupWalmart.com, an anti-Wal-Mart website which belongs to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, came out with a report two days ago titled, 'Wal-Mart's vaunted $4 prescriptions supplied by disgraced Indian manufacturer.' UFCW claims to have a membership of over 1.3 million workers in the US and Canada. WakeupWalmart.com mainly campaigns for the rights of Wal-Mart employees and consumer interests.
Sources say the firm had to act to calm Japanese investors, restive at the flow of bad news.
The US Food and Drug Administration has issued two warning letters to Ranbaxy claiming procedural violations at its plants in Dewas and Paonta Sahib in India. Giuliani, a high-profile Republican leader and former US attorney in Manhattan, would provide advice and review compliance issues. Ranbaxy has been accused of selling generic drugs which did not meet FDA standards.
The United States Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday banned the import of more than 30 generic drugs manufactured by Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited alleging that poor quality control at the firm's factories could be harmful to users of these medications used to treat everything from high cholesterol to Type 2 diabetes to everyday allergies.
India plans to increase stockpiles of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu or its generic version by 10-fold, from one million to 10 million currently, Bloomberg reported, citing Vineet Choudhary, joint secretary, Ministry of Health.
Two years after India entered the product patents regime, the year 2007 saw Indian drug firms striving to shed the copycat image and become innovators with emphasis on research activities even as they resisted moves to include more medicines under price control.
The company is working on a synergy plan with Ranbaxy under which Daiichi Sankyo's product will be introduced in emerging markets through Ranbaxy, he said, declining to give further details.
Japanese drug major Daiichi Sankyo on Saturday deferred its proposed open offer to acquire an additional 20 per cent stake in Ranbaxy Laboratories, citing a delay in approvals from market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India.
A day after Ranbaxy Laboratories accused corporate rivals for the recent stock slump, the pharma major on Thursday said its deal to sell promoters' stake to the Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo is 'binding and final.'
Pharma major denies charges, to file response soon.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is looking into the possibility of price manipulation in the shares of Ranbaxy Laboratories. Sources familiar with the developments said a couple of market intermediaries may find the going tough, with the market regulator asking for data on the share price movements before the announcement of Daiichi-Sankyo's acquisition of the Ranbaxy promoters' stake last week.
Insurance companies, which are major shareholders in the country's biggest drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories, said they will sell part of their stake in the company to the highest bidder.
Sanjeev Dani, senior vice-president and regional director, Asia and CIS, Ranbaxy, said, "We are pleased to partner with Sirtex. We shall work towards creating a productive relationship."
India's largest drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories, which is fighting a patent battle with the world's largest drug maker Pfizer on the cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor in about 18 countries, got a mixed verdict from the Full Court of Federal Court of Australia.
Ranbaxy's investment in the six-year-old joint venture for the 50 per cent stake is estimated at Rs 30.5 crore (Rs 305 million). Industry sources said the deal was unlikely to impact Ranbaxy's financials as revenues and investment in the joint venture was not significant. Sources said revenues from NPI were only $25 million in 2007 through the sale of four generic products.
According to analysts, Indian drug makers are forging alliances with overseas companies such as CD Pharma, Gnosis SpA, Crawford Healthcare and Syrio Pharma to sell drugs for chronic and acute cases. According to analysts, Indian drug makers are forging alliances with overseas companies such as CD Pharma, Gnosis SpA, Crawford Healthcare and Syrio Pharma to sell drugs for chronic and acute cases.
Dr Reddy's has reached an out-of-court settlement to launch the Glaxo-patented Imitrex, a migraine drug that had annual sales of $878 million as of March 31, 2006, in the US. Experts estimate Dr Reddy's may not get more than $8-$15 million sales in 2009 since majority of sales revenue has to be given to GSK, for allowing the launch the authorised generic version.
Drug maker agrees to cooperate with Scottish investigation.
Ranbaxy Laboratories on Tuesday announced a business alliance with Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals across multiple geographies and therapies, for finished dosage formulations and bulk drugs. The new alliance will explore new products and markets without disturbing the existing alliances. The deal is independent of any commitment related to management control and is a pure arm's length, independent strategic biz alliance. Ranbaxy will benefit from Orchid's future products
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd said on Monday it has entered into a licensing agreement with US-based Gilead Sciences Inc for manufacturing and marketing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient and formulations containing anti-HIV drug Tenofovir.
In its ongoing patent litigation over cholesterol lowering drug atorvastatin (Lipitor) against India's Ranbaxy Laboratories, Pfizer said on Tuesday in a court in Ireland had ruled in its favour.
Last year, Ranbaxy had paid around $4,20,000 to the US state of Idaho as part of a $500-million settlement that the drug firm had signed with US authorities.
Commenting on the closure of the deal, Ranbaxy CEO Malvinder Mohan Singh said, "The deal has been closed successfully. This puts us well on the path to creating a hybrid business model that will unlock the strengths of both companies to bring unprecedented value to all stakeholders." In June, Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo had entered into an agreement to buy out the promoters' stake of 34.8 per cent and subsequently made open offer for a 20 per cent stake at Rs 737 per share.
After making big-ticket acquisitions abroad, leading Indian pharmaceutical companies like Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Ranbaxy Laboratories, and Aurobindo Pharma are rapidly shifting production to their Indian facilities.
The Canadian health and drug regulator Health Canada has asked Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Canada (RPCI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited (RLL) to withdraw its generic, 25 microgram per hour strength, fentanyl pain-relief patches from the Canadian market due to safety concerns.
While 22 per cent of the promoters' stake in Ranbaxy was sold through an off-market transaction, the remaining came from a preferential share allotment. Daiichi Sankyo had earlier picked up more than 20 per cent of Ranbaxy's shares through an open offer. Ranbaxy Chairman and Managing Director Malvinder Mohan Singh said the remaining 12-13 per cent promoter shareholding will change hands in the coming weeks, thereby taking Daiichi's share in Ranbaxy to over 60 per cent.
Ranbaxy Laboratories, the country's biggest drugmaker by sales, said on Tuesday it would set up a research and development facility in North America.\n\n\n\n
'It might take 10 years before medicines of decent quality and price reach right down to the last village of India. Ranbaxy, with its India focus, intends to get there in five years.'
"It will be the team I choose to have with the approval of the board. It is really our call on how to run the business. Certainly, the growth will be higher and so will be the size and scale of the investments. You will see a lot more aggression in terms of leveraging opportunities for the next few years," says Ranbaxy CEO Malvinder Mohan Singh.
Pfizer has won a patent challenge in Denmark by India's largest drug-maker Ranbaxy Laboratories on atorvastatin, the active ingredient of the world's largest selling cholesterol drug, Lipitor, which has global sales of over $13 billion.
Firm reaches out-of-court agreement on 5 of 19 patent challenges in the US.
Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited said on Wednesday it had entered into an in-licensing agreement with Netherlands-based Eurodrug Laboratories for introducing the asthma product Doxophylline in India.
Last year, the USFDA had banned 30 generic drugs produced at Ranbaxy's plants at Poanta Sahib.
On the NSE, the stock gained 28.60 per cent to close at Rs 362.
Amid reports of a US Congress probe against India's largest drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories, data show that many leading multinational companies such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Merck are also under the scanner of the US drug regulator, for more or less similar violations as Ranbaxy is alleged to have committed.
Experts said it is the first time that an Indian pharmaceutical company has been charged with such serious offences, and that the firm may be prosecuted if the allegations are proved. Able Labs of the US, now a unit of Sun Pharma through an acquisition in 2005, had to face similar charges in 2004-2005.
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has informed BSE that neither the company nor its UK based subsidiary has received any notice for any civil action in regard to pricing of Penicillin-based drugs in UK.\n\n
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