Category — Pharmaceuticals

India is one of the  fastest growing pharmaceutical  markets in the world generating almost $8 billion per year. That amount is more than expected to double by 2015 with annual growth from 15 to 20 percent.

Following the acquisition of India’s pharma leader Ranbaxy Labs by a Japanese company, the India Expert was not surprised when Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories moved to acquire Piramal Healthcare’s generic drug unit, a comprehensive manufacturing and distribution asset that services  antibiotics, respiratory, cardiovascular, pain and neuroscience segments. This investment makes Abbot the No. 1 producer with annual sales garnering a seven percent market share that is predicted to pass $2.5 billion by the year 2020.

Abbott is no stranger to investing in emerging markets, evident by its recent addition of Established Products Division, created as a stand alone entity where focus is placed upon emerging global markets with its leading cache of branded generic products which perform particularly well in markets such as India. Branded generics account for 25 percent of worldwide pharmaceutical sales. Pirarmal  sales for the fiscal year ending in March 2010 exceeded $500 million.

Furthermore, Abbott’s investment combines its own 100-year presence in India with Pirarmal’s personnel creating the largest pharmaceutical sales force in the country with representatives dedicated toward servicing India’s massive rural areas that constitute 70 percent of the nation’s population.

According to a press release by Abbott ‘s chairman and chief executive officer, Miles D. White, “This strategic action will advance Abbott into the leading market position in India, one of the world’s most attractive and rapidly growing market. Our strong position in branded generics and growing presence in emerging markets is part of our ongoing diversified pharmaceutical strategy, complementing our market-leading proprietary pharmaceutical offerings and pipeline in developed markets.”

The sale represents a total $2.2 billion investment in the India pharmaceutical market.  Readers should watch out for additional M&A moves involving Indian targets or acquirers.

Foreign Multinationals’ Patent Apps to be challenged
Indian Pharma Industry gets aggressive

Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) Secretary-General D. G. Shah says that the Indian industry has decided to collectively challenge frivolous patent applications filed by multinationals.

According to Shah, 86 patents granted to multinational corporations by India for pharmaceutical products since 2005 were not breakthrough drug inventions, but only a minor variation of existing products. Under Section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act, intellectual property claims related to modified versions of known substances are only permissible if it can be proved that the variation has significantly enhanced efficacy. The IPA claims that foreign companies

are filing these applicaitons only to extend the period of patent, commonly known as evergreening, by tweaking the molecules a bit.