(RTTNews) -  Pfizer Inc. (PFE: News ) plans to release generic drugs in Japan as early as 2011, expecting demand to increase as industrialized nations intensify efforts to control drug prices, reported The Nikkei on Wednesday.

The U.S. company's Japanese unit will set up December 1 a division dedicated to drugs whose patents have expired. As a start, this division will handle sales of roughly 70 Pfizer patent-expired drugs.

It will later apply for sales licenses for generic drugs based on other firms' expired patents and begin selling them as approval is granted. Pfizer aims to boost its Japanese lineup of generic drugs to more than 100.
Pfizer is considering making the products in India and elsewhere. To ensure quality, it plans to inspect all its generic drugs to be sold in Japan at a factory in Taketoyo, Aichi.

In addition to selling them at low prices, Pfizer aims to add some improvements to its generics, such as offering them in chewable forms to enable easy swallowing even without water.

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by RTT Staff Writer

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