Expiring US patents mean big opportunity for India’s little pharma
A technician works inside a niacinamide plant which manufactures vitamin B3 at the recently launched Jubilant Life Sciences ltd, an integrated pharmaceuticals and life sciences company at Vilayat Industrial Estate near Bharuch, some 200 kms from Ahmedabad on April 13, 2012. Indian pharmaceutical companies are expected to reap huge gains over the next two years as major drug brands are set to lose their patent protection.
India's pharmaceutical companies could benefit from a $47.5 billion windfall over the next two years as major US drug brands lose their patent protection, reports Outlook Business.
And that's one area where the plummeting rupee could actually be a boon. But it won't all be smooth sailing.
"Though Indian companies have been preparing to tap the market for these brands over the past decade, only a handful of players have managed to get regulatory compliance," the magazine writes. "Given Ranbaxy’s issues with the US FDA, for now Dr Reddy’s and Lupin stand to gain based on their pipeline of launches over the next 12 months."
But patent holders "will adopt aggressive strategies to limit generic penetration. A case in point is Pfizer, which started offering huge discounts in the case of Lipitor when it went off-patent in November 2011."