Just as India's Claris Lifesciences got out from under a two-year FDA ban, Pfizer ($PFE) nixed its supply deal with the company and will no longer sell generic injectables manufactured by the drugmaker.
The two paired up in 2009, allowing Pfizer to sell 15 off-patent parenteral drugs manufactured by Claris under its own name in the West. The deal soured in 2010, however, when the FDA flagged one of Claris' Indian plants for contamination, banning the company from shipping products to the U.S. and forcing Pfizer to recall some antibiotics. The FDA reinspected the plant in February, and lifted the ban last week. Pfizer wasted little time getting out of the deal.
Pfizer confirmed the breakup to India's The Economic Times but didn't disclose a reason. However, citing a "person in the know," the paper reports that Pfizer was smarting over the sales losses during the two-year hiatus, and the company didn't see much of a future in Claris' generic injectables.
The pharma giant killed off a similar deal with India's Biocon, the ET points out, calling off a $350 million agreement to sell the company's insulin products. However, Pfizer still maintains some supply and manufacturing relationships in the country, contracting with Aurobindo Pharma and Strides Arcolab.
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