Mumbai-based Lupin Pharmaceuticals Ltd has launched a generic version of TriCor, which is a cholesterol lowering drug of Abbott Laboratories in the US market.

Lupin had received the approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for the generic version of the drug in December of the previous year. Lupin said in a statement said that the Tricor tablets have annual sales of $1.26 billion in the United States.

Lupin said that it expects a good market share in the Fenofibrate anti-cholesterol drug segment following the launch of Tricor. The company's subsidiary Lupin Pharmaceuticals has announced the launch of Fenofibrate Tablets in 48mg and 145mg strengths in the US market. Lupin had acquired the US rights for Antara in September 2009 that was earlier marketed by Oscient Pharmaceuticals.

Ramesh- President- Finance & Planning, Lupin said, "Tricor is a 120 crore opportunity which is pretty large by generic standards. Given the fact that it is actually a three player market, today we have Teva, Lupin and potentially Valiant also."

The shares of Lupin closed 1.11 per cent higher at Rs 568.15 on Tuesday.