DBL Pharma, a concern of one of the top Bangladeshi business groups DBL Group, has recently become the second biggest shareholder in the methocarbamol generic tablet market in the US, occupying 14.2 per cent share of the market.

Methocarbamol is a widely used medicine in the US for muscle pain, DBL Group said in a statement yesterday.

US-based IQVIA, a leading global provider of advanced analytics, technology solutions and contract research services to the life sciences industry, shared the info in its recent report.

Among 13 companies, Indian company Granules Pharma's partner entity in the USA has the biggest share, according to the statement.

By the end of 2018, DBL Group and Beximco Pharma of Bangladesh received go-ahead from the US Food and Drug Administration to market the medicine in the US.

DBL Group has already invested Tk 700 crore and DBL Pharmaceuticals' factory at Kashimpur in Gazipur will start producing medicines for Bangladesh market by the end of this year.

In the 10-acre factory, European machineries are being set up for making tablets, capsules, syrup, injection, inhaler along with other types of medicines.

Moreover, DBL purchased the production and quality control technology and machineries of cream and ointment of GlaxoSmithKline Bangladesh's recently closed factory in Chattogram, to produce the substitutes of Betnovate and Bactroban, two widely sold items of GSK.

DBL will also produce other medicines maintaining the quality of GSK in Bangladesh, according to the statement.