Daiichi Sankyo to leverage Ranbaxy's Romania and South Africa presence to market Tavanic

Japanese drug major Daiichi Sankyo says it plans to leverage its 64%-owned Indian affiliate Ranbaxy Laboratories' presence in Romania and South Africa to market Tavanic (levofloxacin), a synthetic antibacterial agent originally discovered by Daiichi Sankyo.

Ranbaxy's marketing network has previously been used to launch both innovative and generic medicines in Mexico, as well as debuting the Japanese firm's olmesartan in six African countries. The two drugmakers also established Daiichi Sankyo Espha on April 1, 2010, in Tokyo, which will market generic drugs, as well as Daiichi Sankyo's products which have gained a well-established reputation in the market (The Pharma Letters passim).

Daiichi Sankyo entered into a licensing agreement with Sanofi-Aventis in 1993 for the manufacture and sales of levofloxacin covering certain territories including Europe, Africa, Middle East, South America and part of Asia, and since that time the French drug major has launched the product in more than 90 countries as Tavanic.