Ranbaxy gets Health Canada nod for generic anti-dementia drug

Drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories today announced receipt of approval from Health Canada to sell generic version of Pfizer's Aricept, a drug used for treatment of dementia in Alzheimer's patients.
The approval by Health Canada is given to Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc (RCPI), a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, for manufacturing and marketing of donepezil hydrochloride (Aricept) tablets of strengths 5 mg and 10 mg, Ranbaxy said in a statement.
Commenting on the development, President RPCI Paul Drake said: "The finished dosage form will be manufactured at Ohm Laboratories located in New Jersey, USA, and Ranbaxy anticipates this launch will be beneficial to patients and healthcare professionals, as well as a positive economic benefit to the healthcare system of Canada."

Citing IMS-CDH data, the company said the total market size of Aricept in Canada is 153.9 million Canadian dollar as on November 2013 and is growing at 38 per cent.
Aricept is a registered trademark of Pfizer Canada Inc and indicated in the treatment of dementia in Alzheimer's patients.