Ranbaxy Laboratories announced that it has launched the generic version of Novartis’ cancer drug Femara in 3 European Union countries. The subsidiary of Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo said that it has launched letrozole on day 1, that is the first day after the patent on the drug expired.
The drug has a market size of $58 million or about Rs 250 crore in the UK, $95 million in France and $5.5 million in Romania. The drug went off patent in the US market in June when generic competition entered the market. The EU too will see a number of players enter as generic players will start marketing their products, assuming they have the regulatory approvals in place.
As generic competition increases, the price of the product will decrease, which invariably will shrink the market size. Europe contributes to about 15% of Ranbaxy’s revenues and in calendar 2010, its revenues were $272 million. The launch of letrozole could thus be significant to its European business, even after accounting for a fall in product prices, considering the total market size of the drug at current prices is about $150 million.
Read the press release from Ranbaxy issued to the BSE here.
Updated: Letrozole was wrongly spelt, which has been corrected in this update.