GSK to licence Roche cardiac drug for India

GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd is planning to in-licence the blockbuster cardiovascular drug, Carvedilol, of Swiss pharmaceuticals major Roche for the Indian market.

Carvedilol is the first beta blocker to have improved survival in a wide spectrum of heart failure patients.

GSK India, which is learnt to have signed a memorandum of understanding with Roche for licensing the patented molecule for an undisclosed sum, will soon finalise the rights agreement.

Though a GSK source confirmed that an internationally patented cardiovascular drug would soon be added in its Indian cardiovascular product basket, he declined to disclose the inventor's name and nature of the licensing deal.

Girish Talang, managing director, Roche India, was not available for comments as he was travelling abroad.

In India, the total market for Carvedilol is pegged at Rs 16.6 crore (Rs 166 million) of the Rs 430 crore (Rs 4.3 billion) cardiovascular segment. There are about five generic brands of the drug available in India.

The drug is currently marketed worldwide by Roche under the trade names - Cardiol, Coreg, Coropres, Dilbloc, Dimitone, Eucardic and Kredex except in North America where it is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name of Coreg and Japan where it is marketed by Daiichi under the trade name of Artist.