BIOCRAFT SETS SIGHTS ON GENERIC CECLOR

At least one competitor has set its sights on capturing some of the market which will be left exposed when patents on Eli Lilly's Ceclor (cefaclor) expires. The patent on the drug itself expires at the end of this year and a patent on a key production process will be valid through 1994. But Neil Sweig of Brenner Securities says he is "sure that Lilly will use every legal recourse to prevent any generic product from coming on the market until 1994."

Ceclor is "right up Biocraft's alley," according to Biocraft president Harold Snyder. "If I don't have any problems with a patent, I will go after it," he added. The company has just received US Food and Drug Administration approval to open its plant in Mexico, Missouri, to produce bulk cephalexin, the generic version of Keflex. The patents on that Lilly antibiotic expired in 1987, after which Lilly's sales of its branded product dropped 30% to $190 million annually.

Mr Snyder said that his company holds 60% of the US market for generic Keflex, and noted that antibiotics account for about 75% of Biocraft's $100 million in annual sales.