Dr Reddy's launches generic Alzheimer's drug in the US

Move comes after a law suit accuses patent holder of blocking entry of Memantine hydrochloride

In a significant development, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited announced today that it has launched Memantine hydrochloride tablets of 5 mg and 10 mg.

The product is a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Namenda of Forest Laboratories LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dublin-headquartered global pharmaceutical company Actavis PLC.

Namenda tablets brand had US sales of approximately $ 1.4 billion for the recent twelve months ending in May 2015, Dr Reddy's said quoting the IMS Health data. The drug is indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe dementia of Alzheimer's.

Last month Actavis PLC and other pharmaceutical companies faced a proposed class action in New York federal court over an alleged attempt to delay generic versions of the Alzheimer's drug Namenda, based on a law suit filed by a couple of US pension funds.

In their complaint the pension funds alleged that Forest had resorted to a two-part scheme to block generic versions of the drug by conspiring with at least a dozen generic manufactures to drop their challenges to a patent covering the drug and delay entry of their generic versions until after the patent's expiration.

Forest then launched a new branded product, Namenda XR -an extended release version of the drug that contains the same active ingredient as the original-to force doctors and patients to convert to the newer version, the reports said citing the law suit.

 In their suit the pension funds named several companies, including Dr Reddy's as defendants apart from the original patent holder.

Forest and Actavis had approached the appellate court against a ruling and an injunction issued against them by a lower court in Namenda case, prior to the latest law suit.