The move, which comes in the backdrop of a global slowdown, aims to improve profit margin amid falling demand for polyester products worldwide. "The company has shut down plants for manufacturing polyester filament yarn, polyester staple fibre, paraxylene, purified terephthalic acid and linear alkyl benzene. However, it is yet to close down the second units of PSF and PFY," sources said.
Drug major Wockhardt has challenged the US patent of Stalevo, a new generation combination drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, originated by Finland-based Orion Corporation and marketed by Novartis.
The company is in advanced stages of negotiations with a UPS manufacturer each in Europe and China and the deal may come through within a few months, said Mithun Chittilappalli, executive director, V-Guard. At present, the company manufactures only online UPS, targeted at domestic users of computers and electronic gadgets, which contribute only 5-6 per cent to its around Rs 300-crore (Rs 3-billion) turnover.
MSD Pharmaceuticals, the wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based multinational drug company Merck, has chartered an ambitious growth plan to emerge as one of the top five pharmaceutical companies in India. The Merck subsidiary has plans to step up its research and clinical trial programmes in India, mainly in association with hospitals and universities.
Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power (R-Power) has signed a supplementary power purchase agreement (PPA) with fourteen buyers from seven states for its upcoming 4,000-MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Sasan.
Karl-Ludwig Kley, chairman of the executive board, Merck, spoke to Business Standard about the company's plans and how it is weathering the global financial crisis.
The US Congressional committee, which is inquiring into the country's Food and Drug Administration's handling of drug-marketing approvals of India's leading drug-maker Ranbaxy, has extended its probe into similar permissions given to Iceland's Actavis.
Stringent regulatory norms and the financial impact of the global credit crisis on some research companies may hurt half a dozen molecules of Indian companies, such as Glenmark, Nicholas Piramal and Ranbaxy Laboratories, that are close to launch, experts and analysts said.
In a move aimed at encouraging the growth of innovation-driven industries, the Ministry of Science and Technology has proposed to set up special innovation zones that will offer a host of fiscal incentives for research and development companies in India.
The World Health Organization has given five more months to the Drugs Controller General of India to upgrade its performance to international standards. The extension of the current deadline of October-end came after a visiting WHO team found the modernisation programmes of the Indian drug regulator on track.
Sun generates 41 per cent of its annual revenues from the US market, a record of sorts among Indian drug firms. The company is bullish on its US prospects and expects 25 per cent growth in the country this year, higher than the 18-20 per cent growth projection it has given for other markets including India. The US is the world's largest market for medicines and accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the $780 billion global medicine sales.
The first petition alleges that Cipla Ltd, India's second largest pharmaceutical company, violated Roche's patent by launching a generic version of Valcyte. The second petition says Cipla violated the Swiss drug maker's trademark by launching the product in a phonetically similar name, 'Valcept'.
Citec Engineering India, which employs half of Citec's global workforce, is planning to increase its headcount in India from 255 to over 350 by the end of this year, said Martin Strand, CEO, Citec. "We hope to become a significant player in India in the engineering services for power, oil and gas industry, considering the development in the sector. We target to double our Indian business within two years," he said.
The group's testing lab chain SRL Ranbaxy has been renamed as Religare Super Laboratories. RanAir, its charter aviation company will be known as Religare Voyages. About 15 group companies, including joint ventures like Religare Macquarie Private Wealth, Religare Aegon and Vistaar Religare have come under the umbrella brand Religare.
The company has already received an approval to spend Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) for commercialising two of its biggest gas discoveries in the D6 block located in the KG basin. "In a letter to oil regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, the company has submitted one more development plan for Rs 10,000 crore as additional capex (capital expenditure) for the block.
Companies like Shanta Biotech, Panacea Biotec and Serum Institute of India are among the leading vaccine makers which have not been able to file any fresh application to the WHO due to this temporary de-recognition of the country's drug regulatory system. The WHO pre-qualification is essential for companies to supply vaccines to national immunisation programmes funded by the WHO or UNICEF outside the country.
ADAG has drawn up plans to invest Rs 650 billion in the steel, cement and shipping se three new areas over the next five years. The investment includes Rs 200 billion to set-up a 10 million cement plant and Rs 400 billion towards a steel plant in Jharkhand. The group believes that the three new lines of businesses fit more with RNRL than with other companies under the group, an ADAG source said.
Piramal Life Sciences may become the first company to successfully develop a tuberculosis drug whose leads isolated from the living organisms found in ice brought from the Antarctica region. "(Our) scientists have identified additional leads that will help develop drugs to treat tuberculosis and other infections," revealed Swati Piramal, director, Nicholas Piramal.
Hospitals and medical research organisations that conduct clinical trials on humans may soon face surprise inspections from the regulatory authorities. The hospitals, the sponsor pharma companies and the institutional ethics committees that oversee these trials will all come under the regulator's scanner.
ABRPL is working on developing drugs for anaemia, cancer and arthritis, said Bruce Murdoch, chief business officer, Avesthagen. "We are targeting high-end products that are going off-patent and are not working on popular soon-to-be off-patent biotech molecules. We should be able to bring a couple of molecules into the commercialisation stage next year," he said.
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