Mylan set to ship acne treatment

PITTSBURGH A U.S. generic drug maker has released the first generic version of an acne medication.

Mylan announced Thursday that it had started marketing its 1% clindamycin and 5% benzoyl peroxide gel, through an licensing agreement with Dow Pharmaceutical Sciences, a subsidiary of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. The gel is a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis’ BenzaClin.

The Food and Drug Administration gave Dow approval for the generic version on Aug. 11. Under the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984, Mylan’s version of the drug has six months to compete directly with the branded version, which had sales of $221 million for the 12 months ending June 30, according to IMS Health data.