The news came that Bactroban has been resumed production by the end of October, which will directly impact its first imitation pharmaceutical drug in China, i.e., Pidebang (mupirocin ointment) of Humanwell Healthcare.
Bactroban was out of stock previously, mainly due to the maturity of its imported API registration certificate. However, Tianjin factory has resumed production since the end of last October, and the product will be put in the market at the end of this year. Bactroban would be distributed to retail pharmacies and hospital markets, as expressed by a relevant person of GSK.
The indication of Bactroban (mupirocin ointment) produced by Tianjin Smith Kline & French Laboratories Ltd., a joint venture company of GlaxoSmithKline plc in China, is the topical antibiotics for external use. As one of the four major OTC brands of Tianjin Smith Kline & French Laboratories, Bactroban together with Fenbid, Contac and Zentel, are called as the four pillar products of OTC of Tianjin Smith Kline & French Laboratories. While GSK is not willing to reveal the sales volume of Bactroban, the public data shows that its annual sales volume in 2009 reached RMB 1.9 billion.
Sales condition of Pidebang cannot be found in the annual report and semi-annual report of Humanwell Healthcare, which doesn’t intend to focus on forging the drug. There is hardly any advertisements for Pidebang as an OTC; and many sales personnel in pharmacies promoted this drug to patients only during the period when Bactroban were out of stock. With the production resuming of Bactroban, prices of both drugs are almost the same, but Bactroban can depend on the original drug brand, so where Pidebang will go?
