Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) initial revenue from generic Lipitor, through its profit sharing agreement with by India's Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (BSE: 500359) is negligible, as Ranbaxy captured less than 3% of the market in the first few days of the launch.
JPMorgan cites IMS Health figures that generic versions of Pfizer Inc's (NYSE: PFE; LSE: PFZ) Lipitor captured 14.6% of the US market within days of the November 30 launch Ranbaxy and Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE: WPI). Teva's profit sharing agreement with Ranbaxy covers its generic Lipitor sales during the company's 180-day semi-exclusive marketing period. Watson is marketing an authorized generic version of the cholesterol lowering drug, under a deal with Pfizer.
JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott says that Watson accounted for 97.6% of generic Lipitor sales, and Ranbaxy accounted for the rest. The IMS Health data is for the week through December 2. He adds, "The data captured only days worth of prescriptions, but analysts are closely watching any piece of new information about generic Lipitor, because the branded version has been the best-selling drug in the world. Also, Pfizer is aggressively trying to hold on to brand Lipitor sales by offering discounts to consumers and health plans, at lest for the next six months."
When Teva announced its deal with Ranbaxy, it said that the annual US sales of Lipitor total $7.8 billion.
According to IMS, over 938,800 prescriptions for drugs containing Lipitor's active ingredient, atorvastatin, were written, of which 801,600 prescriptions, 85.4%, were for brand Lipitor, 134,000 prescriptions were for Watson's generic version, and 3,200 were for Ranbaxy's version.
Schott said that he expects Watson's version of Lipitor to capture about 60% of the market during Ranbaxy's 180-day semi-exclusivity period. Afterwards, he expects more manufacturers to enter the market, further driving down prices of generic Lipitor.
Teva's share price rose 1.1% on Nasdaq yesterday to $40.66, giving a market cap of $36 billion, and rose 2.1% by midday to NIS 154.10.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 13, 2011
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