Ranbaxy and Nippon Chemiphar JV launch clarothromycin and terbinafine in Japan

Indian generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories says that Nihon Pharmaceutical Industry, the joint venture it established with Japan's Nippon Chemiphar, has successfully launched 50mg and 200mg tablets of the antibiotic clarithromycin, the generic version of Taisho/Dinabbot's Clarith/ Klaricid as well as 125mg tablets of the antifungal terbinafine, a copy-cat form of Swiss drug major Novartis' Lamisil. The two agents have a respective Japanese market potential of $400.0 million and $300.0 million, for the above dosage forms, and will be marketed and promoted to doctors in hospitals as well as clinics through the sales forces of both NPI and NC. Commenting on the launch, Malvinder Mohan Singh, Ranbaxy's managing director, said: "it is our earnest intention to leverage the advantage of an early entry into the progressive opening of the generic pharma market in Japan, by rapidly introducing an array of generic therapies from our global portfolio."