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Cipla, Ranbaxy plan joint marketing

Two of India's top drugmakers, Cipla Ltd and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, are in talks to jointly market two drugs, a source close to the companies told Reuters on Wednesday.

"Cipla and Ranbaxy are at an advanced stage of finalising plans to co-market Ranbaxy's novel form of the anti-infective ciprofloxacin, and a smoking cessation drug bupoprion," the source said.

Both companies reached by Reuters declined comment.

Ranbaxy developed a novel once-a-day dosage form of ciprofloxacin two years ago and licensed most global rights to Germany's Bayer AG, the original discoverer of ciprofloxacin.

It retained the rights for India and some other markets, and plans to launch the drug in India this year.

Ranbaxy and Cipla are the top two players in the ciprofloxacin market in India.

Ranbaxy's Cifran brand has annual sales of Rs 548 million, and Cipla's Ciplox brand has annual sales of Rs 411 million.

Cipla shares were down 0.95 per cent at Rs 1,060.15 in afternoon trade, while Ranbaxy was up 0.52 per cent at Rs 534.35. The Bombay benchmark index was down 0.34 per cent at that time.

Co-marketing

Ranbaxy and Cipla already have an arrangement to jointly market four drugs: cholesterol drug atorvastatin, cardiovascular product carvedilol, the anti-infective cefpodoxime and the anti-depressant venlafaxine.

In a co-marketing arrangement, one partner makes the drug for both companies, which then market the product under different brand names.

The company making the drug earns a fee from the other, and since both marketing teams are promoting the same product, it leads to greater awareness among doctors, which help to increase the size of the market for the drug.

Co-marketing pacts have gained currency in India's fragmented pharmaceutical market in the last three years.

Other co-marketing pacts in India include those between Ranbaxy and Aventis Pharma, Ranbaxy and Glaxo India, Wockhardt Ltd and Bayer AG, and Aventis and Nicholas Piramal India Ltd.

Ranbaxy and Cipla, like other Indian drugmakers, are allowed to make drugs under patent elsewhere in the world, such as ciprofloxacin, by patent laws that protect only the process by which a drug is made and not the drug itself.

This allows Indian companies to make the patented drug as long as they use a process different from the original.

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