Having been told that we would get a delivery of Orlistat by mid-July, we are now told that September is likely to be the next delivery date for generic Orlistat from Teva. However, Roche (the manufacturer of Xenical) has a meeting scheduled with the European Medicines Agency and we are anticipating a positive outcome based on the news that Xenical stocks are flowing again in the US. Roche will need permission to get Xenical into the EU after its manufacturing problems, which now seem to be behind it. We anticipate a positive press release from Roche next week and then Xenical to start flowing again in August.
We are slightly surprised that Teva has not been able to get more stock into the UK and firmly establish its position with its licensed generic alternative to the branded version of Orlistat. This was a prime opportunity for Teva but at least we all know that the licensed generic version exists.