Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is reportedly looking at pacts with Indian drugmakers.
An article in the Israeli business newspaper Globes claimed that Teva chief executive Shlomo Yanai has recently flown to India to meet company employees and discuss potential collaborations with pharmaceutical companies there. The company declined to comment on the report.
It is thought that an actual acquisition is unlikely given that Teva has just agreed to shell out $6.80 billion to buy Cephalon in May. Also last month, it paid $460 million to acquire a controlling stake in Japanese generics group Taiyo Pharmaceuticals.
Generic Aricept versions to flood US market
Meanwhile, Teva is one of the whole host of generics firms who have been given the go-ahead by the US Food and Drug Administration to sell copycat versions of Eisai/Pfizer's Alzheimer's drug Aricept (donepezil).
Sales of the drug in the USA were $2.3 billion for the year ending March 31, according to IMS Health data. Other companies who have received the green light for their versions include Actavis, Sandoz and a number of Indian drugmakers, such as Aurobindo, Sun Pharma, Matrix Labs, Torrent, Wockhardt and Cipla.
Ranbaxy was the first company to launch generic Aricept in the USA in November, when the patent expired. It was granted 180-day marketing exclusivity.
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