Venus gets nod to sell antibiotic drug in Portugal

Drug maker Venus Remedies today said it has received an approval to sell a generic version of anti-biotic pharmaceutical combination product of Imipenem and Cilistatin in Portugal.

"This is a widely used antibiotic in Europe with a market of more than $300 million. We plan to tap 5 per cent of this market in the coming 2-3 years," Venus Remedies Chairman and Managing Director Pawan Chaudhary said.

The company’s German arm Venus Pharma Gmbh will launch and market the product in Portugal during the fourth quarter of this calendar year.

The combination (Imipenem and Cilistatin) was originally developed by Merck, Sharpe and Dhome and is marketed in Europe, including Portugal by the brand name of Tienam.

"The patent for this product has recently expired, and therefore holds a strong promise for Venus Remedies," Chaudhary added.

The product is an ultra-broad spectrum antibiotic used in the treatment of wide variety of infections, including abdominal and urinary tract infections.

This will be Venus' second product during the year that has received a marketing approval from Portugal, the earlier being Meropenem.

"Portugal is fast growing generic market, where generics have already more than 10 per cent of market share. This growth is in line with the government policy to increase generics prescription in order to reduce cost of medicines," Chaudhary said.

The company is already marketing this generic product under its brand name Lastinem in countries of Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Asia, South East Asia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The product is also under registration in South Africa, where the company has already tied up for marketing of this product with one of the leading pharmaceutical companies.

Shares of Venus Remedies closed at Rs 268.85 in late afternoon trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 0.96 per cent from its previous close.