Ranbaxy to Demand Web Site Stop Selling Its Drugs
Tue Apr 13, 4:37 PM ET
By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Indian drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd on Tuesday said it would demand an Internet site stop selling its generic drugs that have not been approved for sale in the United States.

The generic, Storvas, is made by Ranbaxy and sold legally in India, Ranbaxy said. But Lipitor, which last year became the first prescription drug with annual sales above $10 billion, is still under patent protection in the United States and has no approved generic version in this country.

Ranbaxy said it does not recognize or endorse the Internet pharmacy look4generics (http://www.look4generics.com).

"We have no connection with this look4generics," Jay Deshmukh, vice president intellectual property worldwide for Ranbaxy, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"They are not authorized to use our trade name, Storvas, that they are using and we are going to write a very strong letter to them to cease and desist from using our name and that trademark," added Deshmukh, who handles Ranbaxy's global litigation.

"We are not going to sell this product until we have final approval to sell the product in the U.S.," he said.

Look4generics is also selling a Ranbaxy version of Pfizer's top-selling impotence treatment Viagra and a copycat version of Pfizer pain medicine Celebrex made by another company.

A statement on the Web site says: "We get our products from the most reputable and renowned companies in the Asian pharmaceutical industry" and cites Ranbaxy and another Indian drug maker, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, among others.

Pfizer said it had previously asked the International Trade Commission to block importation of any copies of Viagra that would infringe its patent.

The world's largest drug company said it would look at other Internet pharmacies and sales of unapproved versions of its products on a case-by-case basis.

"The Internet is a vast and growing flea market," said Pfizer spokesman Bryant Haskins, "and we do monitor when we have reason to go after a site because it is selling products that are not Pfizer products and could put patient safety at risk."

The drug industry in the United States has been asking for a crackdown on Internet pharmacies, saying they could pose a health risk because they might be peddling counterfeit or adulterated medicines.

While there is no evidence that look4generics is selling fake or adulterated drugs, the Web site does have two heartburn medicines listed as antidepressants.