History
Apotex began with limited staff in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse. When Barry Sherman started Apotex, at first he was losing so much money "that his wife urged him to close his business before he lost everything." In 1980, Apotex was the first company to market a generic version of propranolol, the blood-pressure drug, which boosted Apotex's company profile.
By the mid-1990s, Apotex was earning $700 million in annual sales, which allowed it to control approximately 40 percent of the Canadian generic drug market.[13] As an important development step, in 2003 Apotex became the first to market a generic version of Paxil, the antidepressant originally patented by GlaxoSmithKline. Apotex launched their generic version of Paxil "at risk", meaning before patent litigation between Apotex and GlaxoSmithKline over Paxil had concluded.[14]
In 2007, Apotex acquired a Belgian generic drug maker, Topgen ESV, from Zambon Group SpA of Italy as a way for Apotex to expand its European footprint.[15] That same year, Apotex acquired Lareq Pharma SL of Spain from Industria Quimica Y Farmaceutica to extend the company's presence in Western Europe.[16] In 2010, Apotex launched a generic version of Pfizer Inc.'s cholesterol-lowering Lipitor drug in Canada, after four years of patent litigation with Pfizer. Apotex's generic version was launched under the name of Apo-Atorvastatin.[17] This saved provincial health programs over $800 million per year.
In 2010, Apotex was listed in the eighth position in a report published by FiercePharma listing the top U.S. generic companies, based on sales from January 2009 to December 2009.[18]
In 2012, Apotex launched a generic version of Crestor, the cardiovascular drug originally patented and manufactured by AstraZeneca. Apotex's generic version of Crestor is called Apo-Rosuvastatin.[19]
On Friday, December 15, 2017, Apotex founder Barry Sherman and his wife Honey were discovered murdered at their home in North York.[20] Toronto Police were still investigating as of June 2021 when the estate files were unsealed by order of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC).[21] "In June 2018, a lower court judge issued an order protecting the files, which concern the appointment of estate trustees and would ordinarily be available for public inspection."[22]
Launch of first generic Plavix pill
In 2006, Sanofi-Aventis SA and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., the producers and patent owners of Plavix, the blood thinner drug, settled a patent lawsuit with Apotex.[23][24] In the settlement, Apotex agreed not to sell a generic version of Plavix until September 2011, in exchange for an unspecified amount of money.[23] The settlement contained a clause that allowed Apotex to bring to market a generic version of Plavix in the situation where the agreement between Apotex and Bristol-Myers was not upheld by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In this situation, Apotex would be able to bring to market a generic version of Plavix, even before the expiration of Sanofi-Aventis SA and Bristol-Myers Squibb's patent on the drug.[23][24]
In July 2006, the Attorney General rejected the agreement between Apotex and Sanofi-Aventis SA and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. On August 8, 2006, Apotex launched their generic version of Plavix and during the five days that the company was able to produce the drug, Apotex "flooded the market with many months' supply of the generic drug."
