Chennai: Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture and market tizanidine hydrochloride, a generic form of Elan Pharmaceutical's Zanaflex, says Narendra N Borkar, chief executive officer.

Tizanidine is a short-acting muscle relaxant prescribed for the management of spasticity and has a US market of approximately $240 million.

He noted that the company has two additional drugs pending FDA approval. Detroit-based Caraco Pharmaceutical develops, manufactures and distributes generic and private-label prescription drugs.