Actavis Group, the international generic pharmaceuticals company, this week marketed Olanzapine tablets in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and the UK, immediately after the patents expired on 26 and 27 September, respectively.

Olanzapine is launched in two forms by Actavis, as conventional film coated tablets and as orodispersible tablets. Developed by Actavis’ R&D in Iceland, the tablets are produced at the Company‘s manufacturing site in Malta.

Olanzapine is used in the treatment of schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder and is the generic equivalent of the Zyprexa® brand product from Eli Lilly.

Actavis was able to market Olanzapine in Germany in 2007-2008, following a ruling by a German Patent Court that made the launch of a generic version possible. Olanzapine has already been launched by Actavis in a number of European countries, including Bulgaria, Czech, Hungary, Iceland, Malta, Slovakia and Spain.

Annual branded product sales were about EUR4.5 billion globally for the year ending June 2011 according to IMS data.