For Reddy’s, Zyprexa is a half-billion $ opportunity

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is likely to see a major upside coming its way in the form of olanzapine, a drug to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Currently being marketed under the brand Zyprexa by Eli Lilly, the drug is seen having sales of $1 billion.

Eli Lilly has the patent for it now, but this would expire in 2011, and Reddy’s is expected to launch it in the fourth quarter next year.
Officials at Dr Reddy’s did not provide the exact gameplan for approaching the market, a company spokesman told DNA Money:

“We anticipate approval during financial year 2011-12. We expect to be sole first-to-file company for the 20 mg dose.”

Analysts say Zyprexa can be a major revenue earner for Dr Reddy’s.

Sameer Baisiwala and Saniel Chandrawat, analysts with Morgan Stanley, in a note on September 13 said there will be two players in the US by fiscal 2012, selling olanzapine.

Reddy’s, since it will be selling the generic version, will see a price discount of about 40%. Yet, the the market would be worth about $500 million.

A first-to-file company gets to sell a generic exclusively in the US for 180 days or six months. That would give Reddy’s about 50% market share in that period.

However, by fiscal 2013, about 7-8 players are likely to enter, which could cut the price by 90% due to which the total market value of olanzapine gets slashed to $84 million.

Reddy’s has been working on challenging the patent held by Eli Lilly.

In 2009, a UK appeals court had upheld the validity of Eli Lilly patent for Zyprexa and rejected Dr Reddy’s contention that an earlier Lilly patent rendered patent for the blockbuster drug for schizophrenia invalid.

Reddy’s had argued that a disclosure for a prior Lilly patent for a broad class of compounds included the one used in Zyprexa, meaning that the subsequent patent for the schizophrenia drug lacked novelty.

However, the court had shot down the argument.

However, going by the data on the company’s pipeline and the channel checks by the research firms, the generic launch of Zyprexa 20 mg is going to be one of the biggest exclusivity opportunities Reddy’s would have in the near future.

“There are other shared market opportunities coming in the way of DRL. But Zyprexa would be one of the biggest exclusive launches the company has seen so far,” a source tracking the sector said.