Even as a lack of clarity in regulations is preventing Indian medical device manufacturers from making their presence felt in the $2 billion domestic medical equipment market, foreign players, mostly from the United States, are increasingly finding the country a preferred destination.
While some have to go through the grind, others taste success in their brief stint.
Days after medical representatives said their employers were flouting the government's drug-pricing norms, the pharmaceutical industry has decided to clip their wings. These companies want them to be no longer recognised as "workmen," a classification that gives them the right to form trade unions.
In another setback to Big Pharma, US drug major Eli Lilly's blockbuster erectile dysfunction drug Cialis (generic name:Tadalafil) has failed to qualify for a product patent in India after the basic constituent of the medicine was found to be a known substance, developed and patented by Indian scientists 32 years ago.
With 1,610 cases of detention of food and medicine consignments at various US ports of entry during the last 11 months, the products of Indian origin received the second largest number of import refusal reports (IRRs).
Pharma makers 'making a mockery' of price control, they say.
Continuous investment in capacity expansion, slow pick-up of medical tourism, increasing competition among corporate healthcare entities and lack of health insurance are thus driving away small players and attracting deep-pocketed corporate entities that can afford to sustain on a long-term basis.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited aims to increase the R&D spend on its three major research programmes, including the reverse cholesterol transport area, in a bid to come out with pathbreaking molecules in the next 7-10 years.
Andhra Pradesh is to house the country's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The first phase of the project, meant to house about 60 SME pharmaceutical manufacturing units in 200 acres of land is to be ready by mid-2008.
Sixty firms' business worth Rs 1,000 crore at stake.
The company recorded a net profit of Rs 426.9 crore (Rs 4.26 billion) in the first nine months against Rs 366.5 crore (Rs 3.66 billion) for the same period in 2006. With another quarter to go, the company expects profits close to Rs 739.3 crore (Rs 7.39 billion).
Of the top-10 global biotech companies, the biggest two -- Amgen and Biogen -- have already set up wholly owned subsidiaries in the country.
The medicines whose prices have been reduced belong to therapeutic categories, like dexametozone, betamethazone, ampicillin and ranitidine. The prices of some multi-vitamins and antibiotics would rise a bit.
The R&D plan, focused on diseases affecting poor nations, is expected to be ready by 2008 and may benefit Indian drug firms and contract research organisations in a big way.
The ability of Indian pharmaceutical companies to command higher margins in international markets is helping sustain business.
The PhRMA's observation is significant against the backdrop of Swiss pharma major Novartis AG's decision to relocate its R&D investments from India.
The patent department made this declaration on August 16 after Novartis had failed to respond to its queries within the prescribed time.
The profit margins of multinational companies importing medicines into India have been hit with the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority starting strict scrutiny of price approval applications for imported products.
Indian exporters of ayurvedic drugs are finding it extremely difficult to tap this high-growth segment
According to a petition filed by Quadrant in the Delhi High Court, Travel Guru allegedly copied its software solution 'Final Quadrant SuiteCase'.
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