Drug maker Pfizer Inc has reached a licensing deal with Hyderabad-based generic drug maker Aurobindo Pharma Ltd in a move that may add at least $200 million (Rs1,034 crore) in annual sales to the world's largest maker of medicines and bolster its stake in the generics market.

Pfizer has entered into multiple agreements with the Aurobindo Pharma to sell generic medicines in the US and Europe, as part of expanding its 'established products business units' – an arm of the multinational drug firm which focuses on commercialisation of drugs whose market exclusivity and patents have expired.

Pfizer is buying the rights from Aurobindo to sell 75 generic drugs as pills and 12 as injectables. The agreement is the first of the partnerships Pfizer is seeking with generic drug makers to add $1 billion in revenue over four years from selling generic medicines.

The move is part of Pfizer's strategy to lower its dependence on brand name prescription medicines by increasing sales in over-the-counter pills, veterinary products and medicines that have lost patent protection. Pfizer has a 17-person generic unit called Greenstone Ltd that sells copies of the company's medicines. The deal with Aurobindo is the first time Pfizer will sell medicines discovered by other companies.

Under the agreement, Pfizer has acquired the right to sell 39 generic solid oral dose products in the US and 20 in Europe coupled with additional 11 products in France. These medicines cover a broad range of therapeutic areas including cardiovascular and central nervous system disorders.

Pfizer has also acquired the right to sell 12 sterile injectable products in the US and Europe. These medicines fall in the category of Antibiotics including Pencillins and Cephalosporins.

The deal with Aurobindo is an expansion of the agreement which the companies had inked in July last year, for about five products. Together, the two transactions bring 44 solid oral dose products to Pfizer's existing portfolio of established brands in the US.

"Going forward, Pfizer plans to expand the EPBU's product portfolio through additional activities with Aurobindo and other companies to provide our customers with a wider product offering," Pfizer EPBU president and general manager David Simmons said in New York.

''By 2013, we want to be generating an additional one billion dollars in sales through portfolio expansion activities and this deal is a major step in that direction,'' Simmons told Bloomberg. ''For Pfizer, we can stand up and say we are ensuring the same quality with a generic medicine as we do for a branded one.''

Meanwhile Aurobindo Pharma in a separate statement said, "The current agreements are targeted towards US and European markets and will continue to explore ways to further extend this partnership."

Aurobindo has a large manufacturing base approved by several regulatory authorities with strong product portfolio for manufacturing generic products. The partnership alliance is mutually beneficial, the statement said.

The global market for these solid oral dose products is around $270 billion annually and is estimated to grow to over $500 billion in the next five years, and the products also represent the largest drug category.

Pfizer is struggling to find ways to offset the $10 billion it expects to begin losing to generic copies of its top-selling cholesterol pill Lipitor when the drug loses patent protection in 2011. The drug maker's research operations haven't produced enough new medicines to replace those losses.

Pfizer chief executive Jeffrey Kindler had said in an interview last month that the firm is trying to create smaller, more diversified business units similar to those at Johnson and Johnson or Abbott Laboratories. The only other large drug maker to have a significant generic business is Novartis AG.