Another article on Apotex -
>>> Little-known Apotex takes generic drug fight lead
Tue Aug 8, 2006 4:36 PM ET
By Bill Berkrot
NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) - A Canadian company little known outside its home country has moved to the forefront in the battle to get cheaper medicines to the public by launching a generic version of the world's second biggest-selling drug.
Privately held Apotex Inc. said on Tuesday that it had launched a generic version of the anti-clotting drug Plavix, which generates annual U.S. sales of about $4 billion for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. <BMY.N> and France's Sanofi-Aventis.
"They've certainly scored a coup here with Plavix," said David Webster, president of the health industry consulting firm, Webster Consulting Group. "They are being very opportunistic in taking advantage of the investigation of Bristol-Myers and anti-trust concerns."
A criminal anti-trust probe by the U.S. Department of Justice into a settlement between Apotex and Bristol-Myers and Sanofi -- amid accusations that it was a payoff to stave off generic competition -- scuttled the deal and set the scene for the generic Plavix launch.
"Apotex has shown here that they can be very savvy in understanding the political currents in the United States," Webster said.
"They will receive a lot of sympathy in the courts, from the U.S. Congress and from the Federal Trade Commission because people are upset about the appearance of companies working to keep a generic product off the U.S. market."
Apotex has challenged drug patents of industry giants before, including world no. 1 Pfizer Inc. <PFE.N> over its epilepsy drug Neurontin and high blood pressure medicine Norvasc. Apotex last year was one of several generic companies that won the right to sell cheap versions of Neurontin.
In 2003, Apotex gained attention by launching the first generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's then multibillion-dollar antidepressant Paxil.
Analysts said the Plavix generic will send shock waves through Bristol-Myers that will likely result in a precipitous decline in its earnings, share price and dividend payments.
And Apotex is almost as aggressive in challenging its generic rivals. Apotex has battled Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. <TEVA.O> over the rights to sell a generic version of Bristol's cholesterol medicine Pravachol.
Because it is a private company that does not disclose revenue or profits, Apotex remains something of a mysterious entity to much of the world even as it has grown into Canada's largest drug company, generic or branded.
Founded by two people in 1974, including Chairman and Chief Executive Bernard Sherman, Apotex now has about 5,000 employees and boasts more than 260 generic pharmaceutical products that it exports to more than 115 countries, according to the company's Web Site.
Apotex drugs fills some 18 percent of the approximately 395 million prescriptions written in Canada in a year, a spokesman for the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association said. Pfizer was second with 8.4 percent.
"They obviously have designs on the U.S. market," Webster said of the world's most lucrative market for drug sales.
Toronto-born Sherman, who once owned as much as a 25-percent stake in U.S. generic company Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. <BRL.N>, has been painted in profiles both as a bully and a generous philanthropist.
With the generic Plavix launch, however, Apotex could just as easily be viewed as a champion of the little guy.
"They obviously have a great global distribution infrastructure and they're well positioned as generic companies become bigger players in the global pharmaceutical market," Webster said. <<<
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