India’s largest drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories plans to re-launch its former flagship skincare brand Sotret in the US, that has been banned for almost four years, through a marketing partnership with a Canadian firm Cipher Pharmaceuticals Ltd. “Pre-commercial activities are underway with Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, the company’s US partner, for a possible launch (of CIP isotretinoin, chemical name of Sotret) in Q4, 2012,” Cipher Inc said in its quarterly result report earlier this month. The US drug regulator will have a final review of the drug on May 29, it said. Cipher specialises in developing improved formulations of existing drugs and out-licenses them to partners for a fee. CIP isotretinoin is a new formulation and will be manufactured by Cipher, its CEO Larry Andrews told ET.
