Apotex

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Apotex is a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation. It was founded in 1974, and has become the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada. According to [1], Apotex currently produces more than 260 generic pharmaceuticals in approximately 4000 dosages. The company’s pharmaceuticals can be found in virtually every pharmacy and healthcare facility in Canada and are exported to over 115 countries around the globe. Bernard (Barry) Sherman, one of the richest Canadians, is the CEO, and Jack M. Kay is the President.

Apotex owns 61% of Cangene Corp., a Winnipeg-based biopharmaceutical company, according to Cangene's 2007 annual report. Cangene's business focuses are hyperimmunes, contract manufacturing, biopharmaceuticals and biodefense against infectious diseases such as smallpox, hepatitis B and anthrax. Its products include WinRho SDF.

Apotex has tied up with an Indian biopharmaceutical company, Intas Biopharmaceuticals, in April 2008 for developing generic version of blockbuster drug Filgrastim for US, Canadian and European market.[8]

1 Campaign Donation Controversy
2 Nancy Olivieri Controversy
3 Robert Prichard Controversy
4 External links
5 News Articles

[edit] Campaign Donation Controversy

In June 2006, during the Liberal Party of Canada campaign to select a new leader to the party, Apotex's directors and their children all gave money to Joe Volpe for his campaign allegedly to circumvent donation limits. See [2].

[edit] Nancy Olivieri Controversy

Dr. Nancy Olivieri was sponsored in 1993 by Apotex to conduct clinical trials for a compound called deferiprone, which is a second-line treatment of iron overload in patients with thalassemia major. In the course of the trials she developed negative opinions about the compound, and she got the results published in a prestigious journal, in violation of a nondisclosure clause in her contract with Apotex. Apotex terminated the trials and threatened legal action against her. See [3], [4, [5], [6] for more details.

[edit] Robert Prichard Controversy

Apotex planned to make a generous donation to U of T for a biomedical research center. when the donation was negotiated, U of T president Robert Prichard, at the request of Apotex, wrote to Prime Minister Chrétien and four other federal ministers regarding some proposed drug patent regulations that will hurt the interest of Apotex. For more details see [7].