Generic drug manufacturer Beximco Pharma has had European GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) accreditation since July 2011 but has only just commenced exporting to Europe with Germany and Austria being the first receivers of the formulations latanoprost and timolol.
Spokesman for Beximco, Wasir Heider, told In-Pharmatechnologist.com the company’s first venture into Europe comes after 18 months of preparation, securing orders and upping product capacity.
“All Europe is our target,” said Heider who explained that the first import deal with Beximco’s German and Austrian clients – details of whom cannot be divulged - would open the doors to the rest of the continent.
Latanoprost is a drug which reduces intraocular pressure in sufferers of glaucoma or ocular hypertension and is a generic form of Pfizer’s Xalatan which lost its patent in March 2011, as did Pfizer’s Xalacom – an eyedrop containing both latanoprost and timolol.
Since the patents expired, there have been several companies who have manufactured generic versions of Xalatan in the US and Europe including Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Actavis Pharma, Bausch + Lomb and Apotex.
Beximco has stated its intentions of launching additional products in the EU later this year.
Global authority
Europe is not the first sign of global expansion for Beximco, nor is it the last as the Bangladeshi firm has been busy ensuring international markets and will soon turn its eye on the US.
In 2008 Beximco received export approval from the Ministry of Health of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, becoming the first Bangladeshi company to enter the market and, in the same year, it became the first Bangladeshi pharmaceutical company to enter Latin America, penning a supply deal with the Drug Regulatory authority in Chile.
The following year Beximco achieved GMP certification from the National Health Surveillance Agency of Brazil – another Bangladeshi first.
A deal has also been inked with US company Adamis Pharmaceuticals in 2010 in which the two companies would launch several generics in the US market and co-develop certain drugs together.
According to Heider, the Adamis deal is “still in the preparation phase,” awaiting accreditation from the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) - scheduled for the end of this year - before taking on the US market.
Nazmul Hassan, Managing Director of Beximco in a release for stockmarketwire.com added: "The company is increasingly focused on penetrating large and highly regulated markets such as the EU and US, where the demand for generic products continues to rise.”