Drug firm MSD has decided to enter into voluntary licensing agreements for investigational oral antiviral drug candidate 'Mmolnupiravir', which is being studied for the treatment of Covid-19, with Indian drug firms Sun Pharma, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Emcure Pharma and Hetero Labs, its Indian arm said on Tuesday.
US drug maker Merck & Co has terminated its nearly two-year-old alliance with Ranbaxy Laboratories to develop anti-infective medicines, which could have fetched the Indian firm $100 million over a period of five years.
MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories, the joint venture to develop affordable vaccines for low-income countries, will take off by next year.
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Global pharmaceutical firms have had a series of patent disputes with Indian makers of generic drugs and several recent Indian rulings have gone against the international giants.
US drug maker Merck & Co has called off its two-year-old research alliance with India's largest drug company, Ranbaxy. Ranbaxy and Merck's wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, MSD, confirmed the development, but declined to provide further details.
Merck arm sues Sun over cancer drugSchering Corporation, part of multinational pharma company Merck & Co, and London-based Cancer Research Technology Ltd have sued Sun Pharmaceutical for allegedly infringing patent rights on the world's largest selling brain cancer drug, Temodar.
But analysts see this as an encouraging shift of stance on part of Indian pharma companies that have so far been dependent on the patents challenge route.
Global Pharma company Merck & Co on Friday announced its re-entry into India through its fully owned subsidiary MST Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd.
Simvastatin goes off patent in late June; Ranbaxy gets 180-day exclusivity period; Dr Reddy's-Merck will be third player.
MSD India, a wholly owned subsidiary of American drug maker Merck & Co, plans to hire 300 people this year as it looks to expand its presence in the Indian market, where it intends to introduce more vaccines.
Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratory said on Wednesday it has launched the generic version of Merck & Co's prostate cancer drug Proscar in the US market after the expiry of its patent.
Roche has already adapted its business model in India to increase affordable access to drugs and try to stave off trouble from India's patent authorities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates on the sidelines of the climate summit here and discussed ways to further sustainable development, steps to mitigate climate change and vaccine research. The meeting between Modi and the American business magnate, whose foundation is focusing on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, took place after the former launched the Initiative for the Resilient Island States (IRIS) for developing infrastructure of small island nations. Prime Minister Modi expressed appreciation for the work being done by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
The deal would involve Pfizer paying with 11.3 of its shares for each Allergan share.
Sun Pharma open to large acquisitions post Ranbaxy.
Ties between India and the United States have been strained in recent years because of trade policies and patent disputes.
The company did not respond to specific queries on the project's expansion.
India's Supreme Court in April rejected a patent for Novartis AG's cancer drug Glivec, saying it was an amended version of a known molecule called imatinib, setting the precedent for more such cases in the country.
He is meeting stalwarts such as Google's Eric E Schmidt, Carlyle's David M Rubenstein, Cargill's David W MacLennan, MasterCard's Ajay Banga, and Pepsico's Indra Nooyi.
A large number of American companies like Google, Uber and IBM are offering their resources to help India successfully fight the battle against the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Unlike India, the US is a free-pricing market.
It could also ease the burden on the 225 million women in developing countries, says Ari Altstedter.
Generic drugmakers cannot be sued under state law for adverse reactions to their products.
The 30-share Sensex closed at 27,112 up by 481 points whereas the Nifty ended higher by 139 points at 8,115.
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The 30-share Sensex lost 22 points to close at 27,090 and the 50-share Nifty gained 7 points to end at 8,121.
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