Ranbaxy, Cipla join hands

NEW DELHI, FEB 16: Pharmaceutical giants Ranbaxy Laboratories and Cipla on Tuesday announced a strategic partnership to jointly market a select basket of drugs. quot;The alliance between Cipla and Ranbaxy will bring forth their strengths in the strongly emerging cardiovascular segment and the perennial anti-infective market,quot; according to a joint statement by the companies.Ranbaxy and Cipla believe that with the product-patent regime knocking at the doors of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, the partnership between the two companies will be a win-win situation for them. It will help them aggressively leverage their marketing prowess, optimise production through economies of scale and exploit their distribution muscle.

With the combined field strength of Ranbaxy and Cipla co-marketing the same drug, there will be high decibel promotion in the doctor8217;s chamber due to the leading to a more rapid acceptance of the new drugs, the companies said.Ranbaxy president DS Brar and Cipla director Amar Lulla also issued ajoint statement announcing that to kick-start the partnership, the first two molecules to be launched are carvedilol, a new generation anti-hypertensive under the brand name caslot8217; for Ranbaxy and carloc8217; for Cipla and cefpodoxime proxetil, an advanced third generation oral cephalosporin under brand name cefoprox for Cipla and cepodem for Ranbaxy. Subsequently, the alliance shall expand to include other attractive therapeutic segments.

Though Ranbaxy already has similar alliances in place with other companies, for Cipla this a first of its kind. In the highly fragmented pharmaceutical industry, such an alliance will help combine the intellectual capital of the two companies leading to consolidation of market share and the creation of sustainable competitive advantage in marketing.

Ranbaxy and Hoechst Mario Roussel recently extended their co-marketing arrangement to cover the multinational8217;s global anti-histamine brand, Allegra fexofinadine hydrochloride in the country. Ranbaxy8217;s fexofinadinedrug has been branded all day8217; and the combined field strength involved in marketing the molecule is estimated at 600. Ranbaxy and Hoechst Mario Roussel are already jointly marketing formulations of ofloxacin under brand names of Tarivid in the case of Hoechst and Zanocin for Ranbaxy.

The Ranbaxy scrip was witnessing heavy activity and has clocked huge volumes in the stock markets during the last a few days. Analysts had last week attributed the interest in the scrip to Ranbaxy8217;s plans of sealing a licensing deal for its new research molecule for the management of benign prostatic hyperplasia BPH. The global market for drugs to treat BPH is expected to touch US 3 billion by 2003, and marketmen feel that Ranbaxy could examine an alliance on the lines of that of the Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy8217;s Laboratories DRL.