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.
These include former drugs controller M Venkateshwarlu, Ranbaxy CMD Malvinder Mohan Singh, Ranjit Shahani, India chief of Swiss pharma major Novartis AG, Ramaprasad Reddy, chairman Aurobindo Pharma and Rajesh Jain, joint managing director, Panacea Biotec.
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.
The Sensex gained 91 points to close at an all-time high of 7,860.
India plans to increase stockpiles of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu or its generic version by 10-fold, from one million to 10 million currently, Bloomberg reported, citing Vineet Choudhary, joint secretary, Ministry of Health.
Simanta Sharma, MD and CEO of bolohealth.com, shares his success mantras.
Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's and other Indian drug makers may cut production as overseas buyers, hurt by the credit crunch, defer export orders. The move could also lower the country's drug exports by at least 10 per cent in the year ending March 2010, industry experts say."Many of our members have been intimated by their importers to stop shipments until further notice," said Venkat Jasti, chairman, Pharmaceutical Exports Promotion Council.
The reason for their silence is that the Ranbaxy deal has not hurt the interests of most sections of the voting community. Let alone farmers, even the urban voters are not bothered by the deal as it has no direct adverse impact on them.
Despite the ongoing trouble India's largest drug maker, Ranbaxy, is facing in the United States, domestic pharmaceutical companies are betting high on the world's largest drug market with added vigour.
The Sensex gained 41 points to hit a new high of 7,797.
Fortis Healthcare, promoted by former Ranbaxy owners Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, will raise Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) through a rights issue by the first week of August, to fund its expansion plan.
The 30-share BSE Sensitive Index is down 18 points at 9377. NSE Nifty is down 6 points at 2836.
Dr Reddy's has reached an out-of-court settlement to launch the Glaxo-patented Imitrex, a migraine drug that had annual sales of $878 million as of March 31, 2006, in the US. Experts estimate Dr Reddy's may not get more than $8-$15 million sales in 2009 since majority of sales revenue has to be given to GSK, for allowing the launch the authorised generic version.
Glenmark plans to start selling its anti-diarrhoea drug, Crofelemer, by the first-half of 2010 across the globe, except in North America, Europe, Japan and China, the company said. The confidence to sell the drug ahead of its rivals comes as the Crofelemer's original developer, Napo Pharmaceutical Inc, recently entered into a tie-up with a US-based drug maker, Salyx, for selling the drug in the US market, paving the way for Glenmark to sell it in the rest of the world.
Pharmaceutical majors like Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's Lab, Wockhardt, Glenmark and Sun Pharma are now treading a careful patent litigation path in the US market to expand their generic business instead of the aggressive patent challenges they pursued until a few years ago.
While Daiichi Sankyo acquired a majority share in the country's biggest drug-maker Ranbaxy, Eisai and Astellas have chosen to set up wholly-owned subsidiaries to promote their patented medicines in the country. In a communication to the Nikkei Stock Exchange on November 18, Astellas said its subsidiary Astellas Pharma India in Mumbai was set up as a marketing arm to sell its immunology and urology medicines.
Ranbaxy, Cipla and other Indian drug makers are helping US retailer Wal-Mart sell drugs at low cost and boost revenue.
Multinational drug manufacturers such as Pfizer and DSM are increasingly getting into contract manufacturing alliances with emerging bulk drug makers in the country, bypassing established players such as Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's.
According to analysts, Indian drug makers are forging alliances with overseas companies such as CD Pharma, Gnosis SpA, Crawford Healthcare and Syrio Pharma to sell drugs for chronic and acute cases. According to analysts, Indian drug makers are forging alliances with overseas companies such as CD Pharma, Gnosis SpA, Crawford Healthcare and Syrio Pharma to sell drugs for chronic and acute cases.
Two years after India entered the product patents regime, the year 2007 saw Indian drug firms striving to shed the copycat image and become innovators with emphasis on research activities even as they resisted moves to include more medicines under price control.
NPPA suggests expanding the list of essential medicines whose prices are controlled
Sales growth of generics drugs has dropped to 3.6 per cent in the 12 months ended September 2008 compared with 11.4 per cent growth a year earlier, according to the latest report of IMS Health, the leading provider of market intelligence to the global pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. However, sales by volume increased by 5.4 per cent in the US, reflecting declining prices and fewer blockbusters losing patent protection in 2008.
Last week, after months of scrutiny, the Forward Markets Commission, the regulator for futures trading in commodities, approved a proposal from state-owned MMTC Ltd and finance-to-real estate group Indiabulls to set up a national multi-commodity exchange.
At least 150 of the 205 employees at Lotus India Mutual Fund may lose their jobs.
Making the things worse, those hitting their record low share prices included big names like Reliance Power, Cipla, Ranbaxy, Ambuja Cement, Hindalco, Indian Hotels, Jaiprakash Associates, Jet Airways, Suzlon Energy and Idea Cellular. Realty majors DLF Ltd, Unitech, Parsvnath, Sobha Developers, Omaxe and Puravankara also plunged to their all-time lows.
Drug makers join the chyawanprash bandwagon with sugar-free variants.
Ranbaxy Laboratories, Dr Reddy's, Nicholas Piramal and three other Indian drug companies cut their research costs by separating the units involved in developing new drugs, thereby addressing investor concerns on low operating margins.
Indian Pharma majors are looking at different strategies to boost their global business.
Over-expansion, bad management, and multiple allegations irreparably taint Malvinder and Shivinder Singh
Voveran, Novartis India's flagship pain killer medicine, has become the largest selling domestic drug with sales of more than Rs 11 crore (Rs 110 million) in March 2008, displacing Pfizer India's cough and cold syrup Corex, which had sales of Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million). Cipla, on the other hand, maintained its leadership position as the largest domestic pharmaceutical company edging out Ranbaxy Laboratories with a market share of 5.24 per cent.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) on Thursday said ten new players have applied for licences to enter into this fast growing sector.The Shriram group, Ranbaxy-promoted Religare Securities and real estate major DLF, have sought regulatory approval for entering the insurance sector, Muralidharan said.
Retail sales of Ranbaxy Laboratories, Cipla, Nicholas Piramal, Lupin and other drug makers have jumped by over 10 per cent in the domestic market despite the sales of generics or copycat versions of patented drugs falling in leading global markets such as the US and Europe.
The move is in line with the NPPA's recent policy of putting a cap on prices.
After making big-ticket acquisitions abroad, leading Indian pharmaceutical companies like Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Ranbaxy Laboratories, and Aurobindo Pharma are rapidly shifting production to their Indian facilities.
It did come as a surprise when, last week, Religare Enterprises (promoted by the former promoters of Ranbaxy) decided to acquire a majority stake in the ailing Lotus India Asset Management Company. This is the first deal in India since the financial crisis caused the market to crash 23 per cent in October, and Lotus' assets under management from Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion) to about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).
The FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg is slated to travel to India soon.
The move brings an additional 15 per cent of the retail medicine market worth over Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) under direct price control. All domestic companies, including drug majors like Ranbaxy, Cipla, Lupin and Dr Reddy's, have syrups and tonics in their product portfolio.
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