Apotex

Apotex, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Pharmaceutical
Founded	1974
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people	Dr. Bernard Sherman, Chairman Jack M. Kay, Vice Chair Dr. Jeremy Desai, CEO and President
Products	Generic pharmaceuticals
Revenue	CAD$2 billion+ per year (in world wide sales)
Number of employees	10,000+ in research, development, manufacturing, Information Technology and distribution facilities world-wide
Website	www.apotex.com

Apotex is a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation. Founded in 1974 by Dr. Bernard Sherman, the company is the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada, with sales exceeding $2 billion (CAD) a year. The company produces more than 300 generic pharmaceuticals in approximately 4,000 dosages, and has 500 molecules under development. Apotex exports products to over 115 countries around the globe. There are more prescriptions filled with Apotex products in Canada than that of any other pharmaceutical company, close to 90 million per year.

Apotex manufactures and distributes generic medications for a range of diseases and health conditions that include cancer, diabetes, high cholesterol, glaucoma, infections and blood pressure.

Apotex is a member of The Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA), the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA), an associate member of the Canadian Animal Health Institute (CAHI), the Canadian Association for Pharmacy Distribution Management (CAPDM), as well as the Greater Toronto Area's Partners in Project Green.

Apotex began with limited staff in a 5,000-square-foot warehouse. When Dr. Bernard 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 first to market a generic version of propranolol, the blood-pressure drug, which boosted Apotex's company profile.

By the mid-90s, Apotex was earning $700 million in annual sales, which allowed it to control approximately 40 per cent of the Canadian generic drug market. 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.

In 2007, Apotex acquired Belgium generic drug maker, Topgen ESV, from Zambon Group SpA of Italy as a way for Apotex to expand its European footprint. That same year, Apotex acquired Lareq Pharma SL of Spain from Industria Quimica Y Farmaceutica to extend the company's presence in Western Europe. 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, Apo-Atorvastatin. This saved provincial health programs over $800 million per year.