One of the fastest growing Indian drug makers, Macleods Pharma has settled a patent dispute with Swiss pharma giant Novartis over the herpes drug Famvir (Famciclovir) in the US.
US sales for Famciclovir stood at approximately $198 million for the 12 months ending January, according to IMS Health.
The drug Famciclovir is an anti-viral therapy for the treatment or suppression of recurrent genital herpes or treatment of recurrent cold sores in patients with healthy immune systems, as well as the treatment of shingles or herpes simplex infections of the skin and mucosa in HIV-infected patients.
The Swiss drug maker had sued Macleods early last year claiming that the latter was infringing upon its patents by attempting to manufacture and market a generic version of Famvir. The terms of settlement between the two drug makers are confidential. Macleods had not replied to a FE mail till the paper went to print.
However, considering the number of generic players which have already launched the generic version of drug early this year, analysts expect the Famvir market to undergo significant price erosion and fragmentation this year. Not only have US generic giants, Watson and Mylan launched their generic version of Famvir in March and April this year, Sandoz, the generic arm of the Novartis has also launched an authorised generic version of the drug around the same time.
Novartis had earlier settled a patent row with Israeli drug giant Teva over the same drug. Under terms of the settlement, Teva agreed to make a one-time payment to Novartis as well as pay royalty fees on US sales of generic Famvir.