It’s literally a billion-dollar opportunity. In the wake of patent expiries on three blockbuster drugs over the last six-seven months, an opportunity worth nearly $1.3 billion is up for grabs for domestic generic players.
With three drugs - Lipitor, Zyprexa and more recently Plavix - going off-patent, along with a sharp rupee depreciation, a significant revenue upside has emerged for players like Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy’s and others. Of this, Ranbaxy is believed to have mopped up an estimated $600-million revenue already from generic Lipitor since it was launched in December last year, analysts say.
This assumes significance as Lipitor sold by Pfizer and Plavix sold by Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which are top-selling drugs with multibillion dollar sales over the last decade or so, fell off the branded radar, with the US Food and Drug Administration clearing their generic versions.