Another company worried about losing market share to generics is GlaxoSmithKline Plc., the world’s second largest drug maker, which has launched a campaign in New Zealand—called Ask For It By Name—that seeks to protect market share of three of the company’s products—Lamictal (generic name lamotrigine), Ventolin (salbutamol) and Imigran (sumatriptan).
“Unless your prescription is endorsed ‘Do not substitute’, you may get an alternative (generic),” said the campaign’s website www.askforitbyname.co.nz.
Besides the US, New Zealand is one of the few countries where companies are allowed to advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers. Such advertising is not allowed in India.
Ironically, both AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline source pharmaceutical ingredients from India and have their subsidiaries functioning in the country.
To be sure, coming close on the heels of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd’s run-in with the decision of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban 32 drugs produced by that company at two of its manufacturing plants in India, the reference to India as a manufacturing location of omperazole by AstraZeneca was an attempt to question the quality of the drug, Moodie said.
“There was some criticism of Indian-made products in the wake of the recent FDA Ranbaxy import ban. However, our view is that the country of origin is immaterial, provided the product satisfies the regulator about its quality, safety and efficacy,” he said. “Pharmac will continue to promote competition and the use of generics to achieve better value pharmaceuticals.”
“In cases like these, where aggressive marketing campaigns may lead to the issuance of unfair claims, misleading information, or wrongful advertising that aims to discredit Dr Reddy’s and AHL’s (Affordable Healthcare Ltd) efforts to make quality medicines accessible to consumers, we have a number of actions available to us. While we could make a formal complaint, we have chosen not to, but ensuring that the public have access to correct information,” said Lynne Lane, chief executive of DRL’s wholly owned subsidiary in New Zealand, Affordable Healthcare Ltd.
Besides DRL, Ranbaxy—India’s largest pharmaceuticals company—also supplies drugs such as antibiotics cefaclor and amoxicillin to Pharmac and has been at the receiving end of such anti-generics campaigns. However, a Ranbaxy spokesperson said: “We do not want to comment on the issue as it is has already become a controversial topic in that country.”
Earlier this year, Ranbaxy had settled a US market related lawsuit over AstraZeneca’s newer ulcer drug, Nexium, where as part of the agreement, Ranbaxy would be AstraZeneca’s US distributor for 40mg tablets of the omeprazole drug.
Neither AstraZeneca nor GlaxoSmithKline responded to Mint’s emailed queries sent on Wednesday evening seeking response on the matter.
Experts said these are typical strategies that innovator pharma companies adopt to maintain market share.
“Developed markets like the US is replete with examples of such attempts by innovator pharma companies trying to question the quality of generics drugs, and the latest Ranbaxy incident is a tool that they are using to bad mouth the entire Indian pharma industry,” said Hitesh Gajaria, executive director and sector head, pharmaceuticals, at the audit and consultancy firm KPMG.