Even as a few major Indian pharma firms are reportedly vying for acquiring Par Pharmaceuticals Inc, the US firm that is on the block, the possible sale is likely to hit another Indian firm, the Chennai-based Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. In the US, from where Orchid gets a major pie of its revenues, it had signed a marketing deal with Par for cephalosporin formulations. The sellout of Par may chop off a major chunk of the revenues that Orchid enjoys under the deal with Par.
Orchid had tied up with Par to market its seven oral cephalosporin formulations in the US during May 2004. As per the deal, Orchid manufactures and supplies generic cephalosporin formulations exclusively to Par under a profit sharing arrangement. In addition, Par pays Orchid towards its R&D and ANDA costs over a period of time . As part of the deal, during 2006, Orchid launched Cefzil, Cephalexin and Cefadroxil through Par. It is not clear whether Orchid has launched all the drugs in the US market as per the deal with Par.
When contacted, an Orchid spokesperson said, ?We would not be in a position to comment on this at the moment.?
Orchid, which depends mainly on the sales of cephalosporin drugs in the US market, has received US FDA approval for 18 drugs. Its marketing alliances in the US generated revenues of $112 million with 6 major products in 11 dosage forms. The company enjoys alliances for cumulative 41 products, out of which 21 are cephalosporin formulations, in the US. From the date of launch in July 2005, Orchid?s cephalosporin sales in the US stood at Rs 228 crore and Rs 273 crore in fiscals 2006 and 2007. The majority of cephalosporin drugs are being sold through Par in the US. During the fiscal 2007, the regulated markets including the US, accounted for 77% of Orchid?s Rs 402 crore total formulation turnover.
