This is not just a Ranbaxy or Wockhardt problem, says K Satish Reddy
In the growth years of 2005 to 2008,companies were busy shopping abroad to expand their global footprint. It's the turn of overseas companies now to buy Indian assets aggressively.
"Our intention has always been to provide value-for-money services," Shivinder Mohan Singh, MD, Fortis Healthcare.
Several Indian states including Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar are offering their hospitals to the private sector to manage. This has elicited immediate positive reactions from private sector hospital chains - among them Fortis Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals and Wockhardt Hospitals.
The voluntary move comes a little more than a year after the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, the central authority that approves new drugs for marketing, had asked the drug makers to withdraw the 'combination drugs' as they are 'unnecessary' and may pose health hazards. The Drugs Controller General of India had banned 294 combination drugs sold under nearly 1,053 brand names from the market in June 2007.
India should take up Pakistan's offer to help in curbing terrorism without any prejudice and work towards a terror-free South Asia, Fakruddin T Khorakiwala, founder, Wockhardt Group, said on Saturday.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Jubilant Organosys, Orchid Chemicals, Aurobindo Pharma and Shasun Chemicals and Drugs are among those who have borrowed either to expand locally or to acquire companies abroad, but are now struggling to repay the dues, analysts say. Some of the companies' debt now exceeds their market capitalisation, as local and global investors sold stocks on concerns over slowdown and falling revenues. A few drug makers may be forced to sell assets to repay debt.
The sector has expansion plans worth more than Rs 2,000 crore to increase their bed strength in response to robust demand. Fortis, which now manages 3,000 beds with a network of 26 hospitals, is planning to double capacity by 2012 with 40 hospitals. Apollo Hospitals, which has 7,500 beds in 43 hospitals in India and overseas, plans to add 2,000 beds in two years. Meanwhile, the 17-hospital Wockhardt chain will soon add hospitals at Kolkata, Mumbai and at Nasik in Maharashtra.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who underwent an angiography as part of a series of heart-related tests at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, can continue to live a normal life and even discharge his duties as prime minister according to Dr Vivek Jawali, chief cardio-thoracic and vascular surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals, Bengaluru.
Government has initiated action against six pharmaceutical companies, including Cadilla, Wockhardt and Lupin, for overpricing medicines and launching unapproved formulations in the market.
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.
United States-based drug major Forest Laboratories has sued three Indian pharmaceutical companies -- Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Lupin and Wockhardt -- along with four other manufacturers for coming up with imitations of patented drugs in the US.
The tepid economy has hit most sectors, from automobile and pharmaceutical industries in the district to its tourist footfall, reports Archis Mohan
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.
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.
Kumaraswamy, who had been admitted to Wockhardt Hospital following complaints of chest pain, had been diagnosed to be suffering from severe calcific arotic valve stenosis, necessitating an open heart surgery for replacement of the blocked valve of his heart, hospital sources said. The four-and-half hour long surgery, which commenced at 9 am, was conducted by a team of 8 doctors, headed by Dr Vivek Jawali. "The surgery has gone well," Dr Vishal Bali, CEO of the hospital, said.
Ex-head of BPL Mobile and currently a Rajya Sabha MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be the new head of Ficci.
Close to completing six decades in healthcare delivery, the Manipal Healthcare Group had a modest beginning with the Manipal Hospital in Bangalore
Half of the 10 IPOs to have hit the market since the beginning of this year have been from the real estate space. J Kumar Infra Projects, KNR Constructions, SVEC Constructions and the now withdrawn Emaar MGF are the worst hit, according to analysts.
Global trend has affected Indian markets too, as two reputed IPOs were withdrawn due to lack of investor response.
After Kumaraswamy was shifted out of the ICU, Governor Rameshwar Thakur, his father and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, accompanied by his wife Chennamma, other family members and friends visited him.
With 40 million diabetic patients and an equal number of people estimated to be diabetic prone, India is emerging as a major market for blood glucose monitoring solutions.
Close aides of Kumaraswamy told rediff.com that the former chief minister was stressed out after the recent political developments in the state and hence had to undergo check up. They said he was particularly stressed after the Janata Dal Secular-Bharatiya Janata Party government collapsed in the state.
The tax holiday awarded by the Union Budget to healthcare and IT sectors has been greeted with enthusiasm. Major hospital chains had already announced plans to expand in tier 2 cities. The tax holiday has proved to be an added incentive. India needs 3.1 million new hospital beds in the next 10 years. The tax-holiday benefits are available for all new hospital projects except the ones coming up in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore & Ahmedabad.
Promoters in India aren't afraid to borrow as the chances of them losing their companies is very slim, says Shobhana Subramanian.
With financial results for the quarter round the corner, small- and medium-sized, export-oriented pharmaceutical companies are expecting a 5-10 per cent decline in their bottom line for the April-June period, owing to the rupee appreciation.
The corporate hospital sector of the country is all set to take away a significant share of the tertiary healthcare service business from individual private healthcare providers by 2010.
Swiss pharmaceutical major Hoffmann-La Roche's patents rights over Hepatitis C drug Pegasys has been challenged by public interest groups at the Indian Patent Office.
Investment in market leaders with a safety-first approach could yield reasonable returns across sectors.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed 318 points at 24,455 and the Nifty50 shed 99 points to end at 7,438.
In comparison, Indian companies received only 23 out of 139 final approvals (16.54 per cent) in the corresponding period in 2006.
Competing with established biotech companies in India such as Wockhardt, Biocon and Reliance Life Sciences, small biotech companies such as Zenotech, BV Biocorp and Intas Biopharma are likely to emerge as major players in biogeneric drugs.
The Indian cricket team's physio was flown to Bangalore from Ahmedabad and admitted to the super-specialty hospital Wockhardt.
A key lesson for the pharmaceutical sector in this case is to not downplay the significant impact that regulatory non-compliance can have on operations.
The corporate healthcare segment may replicate the success of the Indian IT sector, say experts.
According to the Wockhardt Hospital and Heart Institute cardiologists team which attended on him, his vital parameters are stable and he is likely to be under observation for the next 24 hours.
Sandil tells us what he thinks of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya.
The 71-year-old music composer is suffering from a urinary infection causing a problem in his kidney, sources said.
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