Orchid in out-licensing deal with Alvogen for oral non-antibiotic for US sales

Chennai: Chennai-based pharma major, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, today said that it had entered into an out-licensing and distribution agreement with US-based complex generics maker Alvogen for marketing eight of Orchid's oral non-antibiotic generic formulations in the US market.

The combined addressable market size of these 8 products is around $8-$9 billion.

The formulations licensed to Alvogen under the agreement comprise products in the high-growth therapeutic segments of CNS and osteoporosis among others.

According to Alvogen's CEO Doug Drysdale, some of these products have the potential to be among Alvogen's top sellers in the US in 2011-12.

Under the exclusice deal, Orchid will develop and manufacture these oral non-antibiotic formulations at is US FDA approved oral API and dosage form facilities for licensing to and US marketing by Alvogen, which will source these products from Orchid exclusively.

Jersey-based Alvogen said in a statement that regulatory applications have already been submitted for three of the eight products under the agreement, two of which have already received tentative approvals from the FDA, while the remianing five products are under development. The products are expected to be launched in the US market, beginning in 2011.