India's Ranbaxy launches Lipitor generic in Canada

Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's largest drugmaker by sales, has launched a generic version of Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor in Canada, the company said on Friday.

Ranbaxy Laboratories, India's largest drugmaker by sales, has launched a generic version of Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor in Canada, the company said on Friday.

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Ranbaxy, majority owned by Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, said Lipitor had a market size of 1.2 billion Canadian dollars in that country.

Privately-held Canadian drugmaker Apotex Inc and Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd rolled out their products in Canada after they were approved earlier on Wednesday by Health Canada.

Lipitor is the world's biggest-selling drug, and the first Canadian generics set the stage for far more punishing competition in the United States by November 2011, when Lipitor's US marketing exclusivity lapses.