Ranbaxy Laboratories has managed to capture about 2.5% market share in the generic Lipitor segment during initial days of its launch in the US.
Watson Pharmaceuticals and Ranbaxy, the two generic drug makers collectively captured 14.60% of US prescription volume of the cholesterol-lowering drug. But the majority of this has gone to Watson Pharma, which launched the drug just two days ahead of Ranbaxy.
More than 9.38 lakh prescriptions for drugs containing Lipitor’s active ingredient, Atorvastatin, were prescribed for the week ended December 2, 2011. About 8 lakh or 85.40% were written for the branded Lipitor.
On November 30, the Indian drug maker had launched its low-cost version of the drug after getting regulatory approvals hours before the scheduled launch date. Lipitor, the original drug is the world's best selling drug with annual sales of $7.89 billion in the US alone.
