NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said on Wednesday that Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (RANB.BO) can begin selling a U.S. generic form of its Lipitor cholesterol fighter by late 2011 under a settlement deal, some five months later than Wall Street expectations.
Industry analysts have long expected Lipitor's U.S. marketing exclusivity to lapse no later than June 2011, and for cheaper generic forms of the world's best-selling drug to then immediately flood U.S. drugstores.
But under Pfizer's settlement with India's Ranbaxy, which has long challenged Lipitor's patents in the courts, U.S. patients will not have access to Ranbaxy's copycat product until November 30, 2011.
Pfizer's shares rose slightly, giving up earlier gains. Ranbaxy closed up 2.9 percent at a three-year high of 598.20 rupees in Mumbai on speculation the company would reach a Lipitor settlement with Pfizer. Japan's Daiichi Sankyo Co (4568.T) last week said it would pay up to $4.6 billion for control of Ranbaxy.
The delay in Lipitor generics would buy a little extra time for Pfizer, whose earnings are expected to plunge once a copycat form of its $12 billion-a-year flagship product arrives and starts hammering away at Lipitor sales.
CONSUMER BACKLASH?
Asked if the delay could spark a backlash among patients and insurers who favor cheaper generics, David Reid, Pfizer's acting general counsel, said: "We're pleased with this settlement and we actually think it is pro-patient, pro-competitive and pro-intellectual property." ...
"It was best to bring certainty for both organizations," Ranbaxy Chief Executive Malvinder Singh said in an interview at Ranbaxy's London office. "The biggest part for us is in the United States where we will launch with certainty and without any risk."
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The deal, while ending Pfizer's long-standing attempts to block Ranbaxy's product in the United States, would leave Pfizer free to eventually launch its own authorized generic form of Lipitor, Reid said. ...
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