Indian drugmakers leap ahead with Big Pharma

Big Pharma made this a big year for Indian drugmakers. As multinational companies sought ways to cut costs and grow revenues, they ramped up their outsourcing programs and partnerships--and that has helped push sales growth past 20 percent for India's leading drugmakers, such as Ranbaxy Laboratories, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, and Aurobindo Pharma, the Business Standard reports.

That's quite a leap; these big Indian pharmas been growing at an annual clip of about 12 percent over the past five years. And it's quite a boost to particular companies' ambitious goals.

Let's take a look at the GlaxoSmithKline-Dr Reddy's partnership. In June, the two companies announced a deal to develop and market certain products in emerging markets outside India. Dr Reddys is charged with manufacturing the products; GSK covers regulatory expenses, logistics, marketing and sales. A Nomura analyst told the Standard that this deal could help Dr Reddys deliver $1 billion in sales from emerging markets--one-third of the $3 billion in annual revenues that company is aiming for by 2013.

The GSK-Reddys arrangement is just one of several Big Pharma forays into India of late, and more deals are coming down the pike--or so says the rumor mill, which has pegged Cipla as a potential long-term supplier for Pfizer. With pharma in need of emerging markets business and low-cost manufacturing, and Indian pharma looking for big growth, there's sure to be plenty of action.

- read the Business Standard story

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