Mumbai, May 5: Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals has entered into a pact with America’s Alvogen for marketing eight generic drugs in the US.

Alvogen will pay certain licence fees to Orchid based on development and regulatory milestones.

Both the firms will share profits from marketing these products.

The combined market size of these products stands at $8 billion. They are in the non-antibiotic category.

Orchid will develop and manufacture the drugs at its facilities approved by the US Food and Drugs Administration. The drugs include products under the high-growth therapeutic segments of the central nervous system (CNS) and osteoporosis.

It is understood that these products are likely to be launched next year after they go off-patent.

Among the eight drugs, Orchid enjoys first-to-file status in three products, meaning it will have marketing exclusivity for six months.

K. Raghavendra Rao, managing director of Orchid, said, “Orchid has created a strong base in the US generics market through its antibiotic and non-antibiotic product portfolio. Since our entry in 2005, our growth in the US generics market has been very robust and this has been possible because of our high value niche product line and the marketing alliance model that we embarked on.”

He said the pact would help the company achieve robust additions to its business from the US non-antibiotic generic formulations segment.

Orchid’s pact with Alvogen is the second such deal in generic drugs in as many days. On Tuesday, Glenmark Generics had entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Par Pharmaceutical to market 10mg Ezetimibe tablets, the generic version of Merck-Schering Plough’s Zetia in the US.

Sun woe

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries today said it had stopped the sale of the generic version of Protonix, an anti-ulcer drug, in the US .

“Yes, we have stopped selling generic Protonix,” a Sun Pharma spokesperson stated in an email.

Sun has stopped the sale of the drug after a US court in New Jersey ruled in favour Pfizer saying the sale of the generic version of Protonix has infringed its patent.