Big Pharma Continues Jockeying for Position in India
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Yesterday, Sanofi-aventis (S-A) agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Indian vaccine maker, Shantha Biotechnics, for an undisclosed amount. And, recently, Abbott announced a definitive agreement to acquire the nutrition businesses of Wockhardt Limited, Carol Info Services Limited, and certain Wockhardt subsidiaries and group companies for consideration totaling approximately US$130 million in cash.
While these two recent acquisitions don’t appear to be particularly noteworthy, they speak volumes about growing Indian influence in biologics and, perhaps more importantly, in biosimilars. India, long known for its expertise in generic drug development and its ability to work with US-based companies, has expanded beyond generic pharmaceuticals into generic biologics aka biosimilars. Biosimilars have been on the Indian market for over a decade and by all accounts several Indian companies, most notably BioCon, might be able to steal biosimilar market share in Asia from the likes of Sandoz, Merck and Teva—companies expected to be major players in the emerging biosimilar market.
Both Shantha and Wockhardt possess substantial experience in biosimilar development and commercialization. To that end, Sanofi-aventis has publicly announced its desire to get into biotechnology and Abbot must expand its biotechnology pipeline beyond Humira to remain competitive. These acquisitions likely represent Sanofi’s and Abbott’s attempt to gain a foothold in the emerging Asian markets. Also, it gives both companies access to lower cost biologics R&D and manufacturing capabilities.
It will be interesting to see how things unfold over the next year or so!
Until next time...
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!
The FDA has approved Johnson and Johnson’s Simponi (golimumab), a new treatment for adults with moderate-to-severe 
You gotta give Biogen/IDEC and Elan credit for winning regulatory approval for a product that was previously pulled from the market because of serious and potentially life-threatening side effects. .jpg)
The buzz and promise of biotechnology is the likely cause of the buying frenzy that big pharma has been on lately. Word on the street is that biotechnology products are innovative, have a higher return on investment (ROI) and are generally perceived to be “better” than conventional small molecule drugs. I agree that biotechnology products are certainly innovative and the gargantuan ROIs are titillating. But, are biotechnology products always safer and more efficacious than extant small molecule drugs? According to a recent study–maybe not! 
