Dr Reddy’s starts mining $136 million drug exclusivity

Pharma major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has embarked on yet another 180-day exclusivity opportunity with the launch of its Finasteride tablets in the US market.

Finasteride, which is marketed by a Merck subsidiary under Propecia brand, had an estimated $136 million sales for 12 months ended October 2012. Dr Reddy’s would market the 1 mg tablets in the bottle counts of 30 and 90.

Under the exclusivity, Dr Reddy’s would be the only company other than the innovator to market the drug for six months in the US.

However, analysts are wary of the price erosion on introduction of the generic drug.

Finasteride is indicated for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and male pattern baldness.

Meantime, the company is expected to receive approvals for yet another limited competition drug – azacitidine (brandname Vidaza) — in the US market this quarter.

“Azacitidine brand size is $340 million and both patent and marketing exclusivity have expired. Dr Reddy’s filed DMF (drug master file) in February 2010 and could get approval any time,” wrote Anubhav Aggarwal and Chunky Shah, analysts with Credit Suisse on Thursday.

At 50% price erosion and a 50% market share, Azacitidine could be a $65 million opportunity for Dr Reddy’s and competition is likely to remain limited before Teva enters after two years, they said.

Analysts also expect another drug Metoprolol to start contributing significantly to the revenue. “Higher Metoprolol sales should start in the middle of this quarter. We expect $60 million annualised contribution with margins of about 90%,” the Credit Suisse analyst said.