When United States-based drug major Merck bought Schering-Plough early this month, it decided to go off the beaten track. Instead of having one managing director for the merged entity, it decided to retain both: Naveen A Rao will continue to head Merck's subsidiary MSD Pharmaceuticals in India and K G Ananthakrishnan will retain his position as MD of Schering-Plough's subsidiary Fulford India.
The Year of India in Russia - as 2009 is officially known - has helped India Inc get into a long bear hug with the Russian consumer. They are lapping up everything - from Ratan Tata's marquee cars to Vijay Mallya's whisky.
Infosys Technologies has decided that its staffers must have at least six years of having worked on technology responsibilities before being asked to head a project.
Baba Ramdev and the Tata Group are poles apart in their area of operations, but they have one thing in common: both have been quick to spot the money-spinning potential of Ayurveda's healing touch.
Biocon was scouting for more strategic alliances and exploring opportunities for outlicensing its biotech drugs under development, as it pitches for a slot among the top three bio-pharmaceutical players across the globe, said Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director.
If the spiritual guru's Patantjali Yog Peeth Trust has set up one of the world's largest centres for Ayurveda in Hardwar with facilities for treatment, research and a university, the Tatas aren't far behind. India's largest conglomerate has tied up with an NGO, the Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, to set up the Indian Institute of Ayurveda Integrated Medicine at Yelahanka near Bengaluru.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories has succeeded in developing a copycat or generic version of Pfizer's Lipitor, the world's largest selling drug which has sales of over $10 billion.
The OTC major plans to pump in millions of dollars into Vedants' manufacturing facility coming up by 2011 at Ambernath near Mumbai. Perrigo will then move production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs or the key therapeutic substance in a drug) from its sites in Germany and Israel to India.
Nandini Piramal, heir apparent to the Piramal business empire as the elder child of Ajay Piramal and Swati Piramal, became the executive director of Piramal Healthcare in April this year. A 29-year-old graduate from Hertford College of Oxford University, with an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, she joined the firm in 2006 as a General Manager and has been closely associated with the company's overseas subsidiaries in the US and Canada.
India's ambitious plans to generate an additional 180,000 Mw of power in the next seven years will face hurdles if Indonesia, the second largest supplier of thermal coal, goes ahead with plans to cap coal exports to serve domestic demand.
The chances that US President Obama will achieve a near-universal healthcare system have dramatically improved after a lone Republican, Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, prepared to vote with Democrats for a compromise proposal. This gives Obama a much better chance of achieving the 60 votes he needs to pass a Bill in the Senate.
Indian drug companies have cornered an overwhelming majority of drug approvals under the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
Teva Women's Health filed a suit this week in the US District Court for New Jersey, claiming that Lupin had filed an abbreviated new drug application with the US Food and Drug Administration, which infringes the patents of Seasonale, its oral contraceptive that limits the number of menstrual periods women have in a year.
Nova's new owner has decided not to pursue this project.
A German bankruptcy court has sold off Reliance Industries' polyester making subsidiary Trevira GmbH to two local entrepreneurs for an undisclosed amount.
Pricing worries remain, but bankers expect IPOs to raise over Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) in the next few months.
Domestic drug major Cipla Ltd has signed a long-term collaboration agreement with Swiss specialty pharmaceutical major Meda, to develop and market an anti-allergic rhinitis drug for various global markets. Cipla will manufacture the drug, which will treat an ailment that causes a runny nose, and the Swiss company will market the product in Europe, Japan, Brazil, South Korea and Australia. The partners are developing the product as a nasal spray to treat allergic rhinitis.
The Unique ID card project, headed by Nandan Nilekani, is drawing interest from across the world because of the sheer scale of the project.
PLSL's lead molecule under development for cancer treatment has completed two Phase-I studies.
JSW Energy aims to generate 11,390 Mw in the country by 2015. The company has tied up with two consortiums of lenders, led by IDBI Bank and State Bank of India, respectively, for the loans. It had recently filed a draft red-herring prospectus for a Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) public offering with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.