India’s Ranbaxy: another can of worms
Last week Ranbaxy Laboratories, India’s biggest pharmaceuticals company, must have thought it had at last settled an eight-year dispute when it paid $500m in fines and compensation and pleaded guilty to felony charges related to production and distribution of adulterated drugs in the US.
But it isn’t over yet. Daiichi Sankyo – the Tokyo based drugmaker that paid quite a premium for a controlling stake in Ranbaxy back in 2008 – has taken the row to a new front. Continue reading »
Chinese pharma cracks down on African counterfeits
The reputation of Chinese pharmaceuticals in Africa has taken a hammering over the last couple of years. Far from curing disease, Chinese companies are accused of sitting at the centre of a vast counterfeiting industry dumping fake medicines on the continent at a cost of billions of dollars and countless lives.
But two Chinese pharmaceutical companies – Guilin Pharmaceuticals and Watson Global Pharmaceuticals – are breaking new ground by introducing SMS-based authenticity checks for their anti-malarial drugs in Africa. Continue reading »
Ranbaxy pleads guilty and settles US felony but outlook remains unclear
The US subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories, India’s biggest pharmaceuticals group, has pleaded guilty to felony charges related to drug safety and will pay $500m in what the US Department of Justice called the largest such settlement to date with a generic drug manufacturer.
It lifts a cloud hanging over Ranbaxy for the past eight years. But it is still not clear when the company will be able to resume exports to the US from its two factories at the centre of the scandal, which have been at a virtual standstill since 2008. Continue reading »
Last November, GlaxoSmithKline topped the Access to Medicine Index for the third year running, commended for its equitable pricing policy in emerging markets and a pro-access approach to licensing and patents.
You can be forgiven for feeling puzzled – the ranking marks a big turnaround for a company which little more than a decade ago was public enemy number one in Africa and elsewhere. How did that happen? Continue reading »
Big Pharma says Olá to Brazil
By Pan Kwan Yuk and Thalita Carrico
Brazil’s burgeoning middle class might have helped propel the country to the top of the consumer league tables.
But as Brazilians have gotten richer, they are also succumbing in ever greater numbers to so-called diseases of affluence – namely obesity, diabetes and cancer. It’s a development that has not gone unnoticed among the world’s top pharmaceutical companies. Continue reading »
Guest post: India’s Novartis judgement isn’t anti-patent
By Sudip Chaudhuri of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
India’s Supreme Court has denied Novartis a patent for a cancer drug. Novartis is upset that the judgement will adversely affect innovation.
In this case, the judgement is based upon a simple but powerful idea – and other countries could follow suit. Continue reading »
India: another drug row goes to court
India’s lawyers will be licking their lips. Just days after the Supreme Court denied the multinational pharmaceuticals group, Novartis, patent protection for its cancer drug, the country’s judges have another case on their hands.
Merck Sharp and Dohme, better known as MSD, has filed a case with Delhi’s High Court claiming that Glenmark, the Mumbai-listed pharmaceutical company, is violating patents on its diabetes drugs, Januvia and Janumet. And in an unusual move – as domestic pharmas rarely take one another on in India – Sun Pharma, has joined the proceedings as a co-plaintiff. Continue reading »
India pharma: Strides Arcolab in $1.6bn deal with US generics maker Mylan
Shares in Strides Arcolab dropped 6.9 per cent on Thursday to Rs917.25, after the Bangalore-based pharmaceuticals company confirmed it is selling off its injectables unit at a lower-than-expected price.
There have been several rumoured buyers for the subsidiary, Agila Specialities, but it was announced on Wednesday that Mylan, the US generic drug producer, is to pay $1.6bn in cash for the business. Continue reading »
Ranbaxy: losses, again
Shares in Indian generic drugs group Ranbaxy Laboratories dropped 4.2 per cent on Wednesday to Rs399.20, having lost 4 per cent in the previous session, after the company posted disappointing financial results.
The numbers caused analysts to question the company’s expenses and launch of new drugs, given the performance. Continue reading »
Kazakhstan’s attractive and ambitious drugs market
By Clare Nuttall of bne
More and more multinationals are entering the pharmaceuticals sector in Kazakhstan, drawn by steadily growing demand. The government wants to accelerate the process and officials are busy negotiating with foreign companies, urging them to come. But its target of boosting domestic pharmaceutical production to 50 per cent of consumption by 2014 still looks over-ambitious. Continue reading »
Malia Group: spreading risk in the Middle East
Opening the only five-star hotel in Iraq two years ago was a bold move by any standards. Throw in marketing cigarette makers in Lebanon and distributing Shell Lubricants in Iraq, and Malia Group looks like a controversial risk-taker. Continue reading »
GSK in EM: it’s not about the drugs
More signs that Big Pharma is determined to further expand its footprint in emerging markets, with GlaxoSmithKline on Monday inking two new deals worth more than £650m ($1bn) in India and Nigeria.
The transactions – which will see the UK-based pharmaceuticals group increase its stake over two of its leading subsidiaries – are noteworthy. Whereas most of the industry’s past M&A efforts in EMs have been focused on securing new drugs and generics, GSK’s latest move is aimed at strengthening its presence in the consumer healthcare product space. Continue reading »
India: calling the shots
Fewer than half of India’s babies are immunised against childhood diseases. For doctors, that’s a nightmare. For vaccine makers, it’s a dream opportunity.
A report from Global Business Intelligence Research (GBI) forecasts that the Indian vaccine market will grow 20 per cent a year for the next four years. Currently valued at $350m, it says, the industry will be worth $871m by 2016. Continue reading »
India: pharma companies sales to suffer on new round of price controls
Just a few months ago, the Indian government announced that it would, by the end of the year, start implementing a $5bn plan to provide more than half the country’s 1.2bn people with free access to a wide range of generic drugs.
Delhi this week announced that it plans to increase the number of drugs under price controls from 18 per cent to 30 per cent, meaning an additional 348 medicines will be made more affordable. Continue reading »
EM pharma: a bitter pill?
Big pharmaceutical companies rely on making a return on their R&D with patent protection and exclusivity. But this pay-off is being chipped away in developed markets, with Europeam governments looking to make drugs cheaper. The industry had high hopes that emerging markets revenues might ease the pain.
But a new report suggests emerging markets may not be able to take up the slack. Market research firm GlobalData says slowing growth and protectionism mean that “as much as a $47 billion gap could exist between what drug makers expect to make in emerging markets, and the actual realisable [yearly] revenue”. Ouch. Continue reading »
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