Gurgaon, India and Milan, Italy, (October 4, 2011) – Ranbaxy Italia S.p.A (Ranbaxy) and Daiichi Sankyo, Italia S.p.A (Daiichi Sankyo), today announced a partnership to leverage Ranbaxy’s distribution strengths and extensive relationships with Pharmacists across Italy, for the distribution of Daiichi Sankyo products. To start with, Ranbaxy will exclusively distribute two of Daiichi Sankyo’s long established brands - CONGESCOR and LOPRESOR - to all pharmacies, in the country. These drugs are used extensively by Doctors in Italy for the treatment of Congestive Heart Failure and Hypertension. As per IMS Health, the total annual retail sales of CONGESCOR and LOPRESOR are around Euro 20 Mn.

The partnership in Italy provides further impetus to the Hybrid Business Model between the two companies by comprehensively addressing Doctors and Pharmacists in improving the accessibility of drugs, for patients.

Commenting on the development, Neeraj Sharma, Managing Director, Ranbaxy Italia S.p.A, said, “Ranbaxy will use its extensive sales force network to ensure adequate retail presence for CONGESCOR and LOPRESOR and provide Daiichi Sankyo with direct access to the Pharmacists, who are important stakeholders, in the pharmaceutical value chain. The arrangement will ensure the wide availability of the drugs and improve their accessibility for patients.”
Daiichi Sankyo, Italia, through its dedicated team of Medical Representatives, will continue to take care of the Physicians, mainly Cardiologists and Internists, promoting the two products.

Welcoming the arrangement, Antonino Reale, Managing Director, Daiichi Sankyo, Italia, S.p.A said, “The partnership extends our product reach and brings together the strength and the market equity of the Daiichi Sankyo brands, combining these aspects, with the strong pharmacy sales and distribution network of Ranbaxy, for mutual advantage.”

Daiichi Sankyo Italia is one of the fastest growing R&D based pharmaceutical company in Italy. It markets about 15 products primarily in the field of cardiovascular therapies. It is currently ranked among the IMS top 50 pharma companies in Italy. Ranbaxy Italia is among the top 10 companies in the fast growing generic market in Italy. Its sales team comprising 65 sales reps offers a portfolio of almost 60 high quality generic products to a dedicated customer base of almost 3,000 pharmacies across the country.
 
About Daiichi Sankyo
The Daiichi Sankyo Group is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical products to address the diversified, unmet medical needs of patients in both mature and emerging markets. While maintaining its portfolio of marketed pharmaceuticals for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and bacterial infections, the Group is engaged in the development of treatments for thrombotic disorders and focused on the discovery of novel oncology and cardiovascular-metabolic therapies. Furthermore, the Daiichi Sankyo Group has created a "Hybrid Business Model," which will respond to market and customer diversity and optimize growth opportunities across the value chain. For more information, please visit www.daiichisankyo.com.
 
About Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited
Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, India's largest pharmaceutical company, is an integrated, research based, international pharmaceutical company producing a wide range of quality, affordable generic medicines, trusted by healthcare professionals and patients across geographies. Ranbaxy’s continued focus on R&D has resulted in several approvals, in developed and emerging markets many of which incorporate proprietary Novel Drug Delivery Systems (NDDS) and technologies, developed at its own labs. The company has further strengthened its focus on generics research and is increasingly working on more complex and specialty areas. Ranbaxy serves its customers in over 125 countries and has an expanding international portfolio of affiliates, joint ventures and alliances, ground operations in 46 countries and manufacturing operations in 7 countries. Ranbaxy is a member of the Daiichi Sankyo Group. Through strategic in-licensing opportunities and its hybrid business model with Daiichi Sankyo, a leading global pharma innovator headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Ranbaxy is introducing many innovator products in markets around the world, where it has a strong presence. This is in line with the company’s commitment to increase penetration and improve access to medicines, across the globe. For more information, please visit http://www.ranbaxy.com/