Movers and shakers in US generics

 
April 2009

Which companies are beginning to make their mark on the US generics market?

In the latest edition of Movers & Shakers, one of the Pharma Matters line of free quarterly reports, we continue our commentary on the generics industry by highlighting some of the companies that are beginning to make their marks on the US generics market. The report focuses on finished dose products and active ingredients between October and December 2008, and also analyzes trends and statistics relating to the market as a whole.

While the pharmaceutical industry continued to convulse, Movers & Shakers kept its eye on all the major deals and tracked the game play as it unfolded. The talk at December 2008's IGPA conference in Geneva, Switzerland was on the declining sales growth of the global pharmaceutical market in key countries. The pressures are being blamed on rapid price erosion due to increasing competition, most notably the influx of pharmaceuticals from India. It is likely that Chinese generic imports will add even more pressure in a few years, though at the moment the abundant local market seems to be suppressing Chinese plans to expand into the US.

This quarter also saw a significant amount of merger and acquisition activity in generics, fueled by companies pursuing access to new markets, both in terms of new geographical markets and enlarged product portfolios, integrating API manufacturing, and finding economies of scale to weather the uncertain economic climate.

The report highlights three companies making significant game play in the US generics industry:

  • For Akorn-Strides, 2008 was a significant year. At the start of the year the partnership held just one ANDA. By the time of the report, it had received 12 approvals, and boasted a product portfolio including 29 ANDAs with a total of 53 SKUs or product line offerings. Its first ANDA submission was filed in April 2006, and it generated its first product revenues in the third quarter of 2008 (from the launch of rifampin for injection).

  • Taiwan-based generic company Anchen Pharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anchen Inc, of Irvine, California, gained its first ANDA approval in November 2008, for divalproex sodium DR 500mg tablets (a generic equivalent to Abbott's Depakote® DR).

  • Although Cypress Pharmaceutical Inc has a large number of products in its portfolio, the first ANDA approval in its name (for granisetron HCl solution) was granted in February 2008. In the last quarter of 2008, Cypress received final approval of ANDAs for cetirizine HCl syrup (prescription and OTC) and calcium acetate tablets. The company also boasts a large number of ANDA products in various stages of development—more than 35 at last notice.

Movers & Shakers is compiled using the unique strategic intelligence and competitive analysis information in Newport Horizon Premium™, the critical product targeting and global business development system from Thomson Reuters.

Movers & Shakers October-December 2008 (PDF)

Receive free copies of this and other Pharma Matters reports.