India’s Pharmaceutical Sector in 2008

Emerging Strategies and Global and Local Implications for Access to Medicines

By

Padmashree Gehl Sampath

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to all the people who participated in the field survey as well as took time to
give interviews for their valuable time and information. I would especially like to thank Mr
Dilip Shah, President, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) and Mr. Homi Bhabha,
Secretary, Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) for helping to
arrange meetings with local and international pharmaceutical firms. I acknowledge four
interviews conducted with procurement agencies for an In-Kind Donations Study (co-
authored with a colleague for the GFATM) that also informed the analysis in this study. I
would like to acknowledge the contribution of Feedback Consulting for their help in
administering the questionnaire survey. I thank Charles Clift, DFID, Prof. Carlos Correa,
University of Buenos Aires, Prof. Banji Oyeyinka, Director, Monitoring and Research,
UNHABITAT, Prof. Joanna Chataway, Open University and Sisule Musungu, President,
IQSensato for their detailed comments on an earlier draft of this study. I am grateful to
Graciela van der Poel and Wladimir Raymond for research assistance. Responsibility for
all errors of fact and interpretation remains with the author.

DISLCAIMER

This report was commissioned by the Department for International Development (DFID)

but the contents do not necessarily represent the views or the policy of DFID.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................7

1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................13

2.0 The Indian Pharmaceutical Sector: Sector Growth and Main Drivers ...........14

2.1. Generics Production .................................................................................18

2.2. R&D Capabilities ......................................................................................23

2.3. Contract Research and Manufacturing.....................................................27

3.0 Understanding the Emerging Industrial Dynamics ........................................28

4.0 Indian Policy Framework and Access to Medicines Issues...........................31

4.1. The Mashelkar Committee Report............................................................34

4.2. The Novartis Judgement, Tarseva and Valcyte: What is “Patentable” in

India? ..............................................................................................................34

4.3. The Reddy Committee Report on Data Protection ...................................36

5.0 ARV Production by Indian Firms and Emerging Disease Segments.............39

5.1. Impact of Changing Industry Trends on First and Second Line ARVs......39

5.1.1. The Situation in China and Bangladesh: Why is India’s Supply Critical

for Global Public Health? .............................................................................47

5.1.2. Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Supplies for ARVs..............48

5.2. Malaria, Tuberculosis and Other Disease Segments ...............................49

6.0 Conclusions ..................................................................................................51

6.1. On the Pharmaceutical Sector..................................................................51

6.2. On the Regulatory Framework .................................................................52

6.3. On Enhancing Access to Medicines .........................................................53

Annex 1: Terms of Reference .............................................................................55

Annex 2: List of People Interviewed....................................................................57

Annex 3: Top Indian Pharmaceutical Firms Surveyed ........................................58

Annex 4: List of Top 100 Companies for the Firm-Level Survey .........................59

 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Percentage Growth in Exports, 2003-2007 ...........................................22

Table 2: R&D Spending as a Percentage of Total Revenues of the Top 5 Firms

From 2003 to 2006 (Excluding Cipla)..................................................................23

Table 3: Some Major Contract Research Agreements........................................28

Table 4: Institutions for New Product and Process Development: Results of

Survey.................................................................................................................32

Table 5: First-line ARVs: Patent Holders and Generic Producers.......................41

Table 6: Second-line ARVs: Patent Holders and Generic Producers..................42

Table 7: Patent Applications for ARVs Pending in India .....................................43

Table 8: Adult Fixed Dose Combinations: Patent Holders and Generic Producers

............................................................................................................................45

Table 9: Paediatric Fixed Dose Combinations: Patent Holder and Generic

Producers ...........................................................................................................46

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Organisation of the Indian Pharmaceutical Sector...............................16

Figures 2 and 3: The Indian Pharmaceutical Sector: Market Shares and Main

Therapeutic Segments........................................................................................17

Figure 4: Rise in Mean Employment Between 2003 and 2007: Results of the

Survey.................................................................................................................18

Figure 5: Rise in Mean Sales for the 49 Firms Between 2003 and 2007: Results

of the Survey.......................................................................................................18

Figure 6: R&D on Local Diseases: Results of Field Survey ................................21

Figure 7: Revenues From Exports for the Top 10 Firms, 2002-2007 ..................22

Figure 8: Rise in Mean R&D Intensity From 2003 to 2007..................................24

LIST OF BOXES

Box 1.0 Market Figures at a Glance....................................................................14

Box 2.0: Present Strengths in Generics Production ............................................19

Box 3.0 Drug Discovery Prospects in the Indian Pharma Sector: Sun and

Glenmark ............................................................................................................26

Box 4.0 The Tarseva Patent Dispute ..................................................................35

Box 5.0 Securing Competitive API Supplies for ARVs ........................................48

ABBREVIATIONS

ACT Artemisinin Combination Therapy

AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
ANDA Abbreviated New Drug Application
API Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient
AR-LUM Artemether Lumefantrine
ART Antiretroviral Therapy
ARVs Antiretrovirals
Cap Ex Capital Expenditure
CHAI Clinton HIV and AIDS Initiative
CNS Central Nervous System
CVS Cardiovascular System
CSIR Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research
DFID Department for International Development, UK
DMF Drug Master File
EIU Economist Intelligence Unit
FDA Food and Drug Administration of the USA
FDC Fixed Dose Combination
FY Fiscal Year
GPRM Global Price Reporting Mechanism
HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus
IBEF India Brand Equity Foundation
IDMA Indian Drug Manufacturers Association
IPA Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance
MNCs Multinational Companies
MDR TB Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis
NDDS New Drug Discovery Systems
NPPA National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority
PEPFAR President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
OI Opportunistic Infections
OPPI Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India
R&D Research and Development
TRIPS Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights
UNITAID International Drug Purchase Facility
USD United States Dollar
WHO World Health Organisation

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The main objective of this study is to investigate the present legal and economic
framework in India and the emerging response of the local pharmaceutical sector since
2005, in order to analyse its implications for access to medicines, both local and global.
The main research questions dealt with in detail are:
(a) What are the developments since India’s compliance with the Agreement on
Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 2005 in the
legal and economic framework that have implications for firms’ behaviour and
global access to medicines? How do the issues raised by (a) the Mashelkar
report (and its aftermath), (b) the Novartis case, and (c) the Reddy Committee
Report on data protection impact upon the creation of a conducive regulatory
framework for sectoral innovation?
(b) How do emerging disease trends within India (especially the growing importance
of non-communicable diseases) and in other developing countries affect issues
of availability and pricing of medicines in these segments?
(c) To what extent can India continue to be a global producer of cheaper generic
versions of drugs that are important from a public health perspective despite its
TRIPS-compliant patent regime?
(d) What forms of policy interventions remain significant to enable the sector to
expand as a global player, while retaining its role as a major producer of cheaper
drugs?

The study conducted a firm-level survey of the 75 largest firms in the Indian
pharmaceutical sector in order to answer these questions. The ranking was derived
using total revenues of all firms in the sector for the year 2007. Semi-structured
questionnaires were administered to all the 75 firms, of which 49 were retrieved.
Additionally, interviews were conducted with top-level management (CEOs and directors
of R&D) of the firms as well as industry insiders and procurement agencies worldwide, in
order to substantiate the information collected through the firm-level survey. The study
finds that the Indian pharmaceutical sector is growing despite India’s full-scale TRIPS
compliance in 2005. Indian firms still supply to 70% of the market and nine out of the top
ten companies are local companies. The analysis of present activities of the local firms
and their strengths points towards three main drivers of growth.

Firstly, trends in global health innovation that relate to expansion of the global
generics sector and increased pressure on ‘big pharma’ to cut costs are catalysing the
quick integration of Indian firms into the global market. This architectural re-structuring of
global pharmaceutical innovation is caused as much by newer technologies that have
modularized innovation in the health sciences, as by global regulatory processes and the
needs of consumers worldwide to access drugs at reasonable costs. In such an
environment, the expanding R&D activities and economies of scale in manufacturing of
Indian firms are important assets. Local firms have been quick to fill in the emerging
opportunities as a result of these changes and also have captured niches where they
can influence global innovation processes in their favour. They pursue a simultaneous
collaborator-competitor strategy in local and global markets. They compete with the
international firms for generic drugs and launch patent disputes to protect their interests,
but at the same time, collaborate with them on various R&D fronts. Varying business
models seem to be emerging, depending on what the firms perceive to be their intrinsic
strengths and how they can capitalize on it. As opposed to their extreme focus on
regulated markets, firms diversify their portfolios between regulated and unregulated

markets to capture economies of scale depending on their product portfolios and areas
of interest.

Only 6% of the 49 firms that participated in the survey conducted all of their
research on local disease conditions, and a large majority of the firms (75%) conducted
less than 25% of their R&D on local disease conditions. Despite this, several firms view
the opportunities in developing and least developed country markets as their stronghold.
Since 2005, several domestic firms have attempted to set up subsidiaries or
independent companies in other least developed countries in order to be able to operate
in legal regimes that are not TRIPS-compliant. Sun Pharmaceuticals recently set up a
company in Bangladesh, Cipla has embarked upon a recent initiative with the Ministry of
Health in Uganda to set up a plant for the manufacture of antiretroviral and anti-malarial
drugs in the country. The alliance between Cipla and Ministry of Uganda is the first of its
kind, between an Indian firm and an African government, aimed at building local capacity
to produce drugs of critical relevance to the country’s health care system. Several other
Indian firms are seeking to branch out into African countries through joint ventures and
alliances – Strides Acrolabss, for example, now has a joint venture with Aspen
Pharmacare, South Africa. Indian firms have also begun to use their technological
capabilities to create products for specific low-income markets thereby disrupting
existing modes of pharmaceutical innovation, a case in point being the fixed dose
combinations (FDCs) for antiretroviral drugs.

A second factor in favour of the Indian firms is the rapid expansion of the local
pharmaceutical market and health care within India. Rising personal incomes, changing
disease profiles (with a larger share of global diseases within the country) and the
increased privatisation of health care (with a rise in specialised clinics, hospitals and
treatment centres) are creating new market opportunities in second and third tier Indian
cities and towns. Although the local market is crowded, has too many small and medium
firms, and has had lower profit margins than what can be gained by entering regulated
markets abroad up until now, the increase in local purchasing power along with the
changing disease profile of Indians both amount to a lucrative market. The advantage of
an expanding domestic market for a wide range of diseases, including global diseases,
offers Indian firms a secure base to invest.

Thirdly, the policy stance of the Indian government in favour of public health and
the local industry has lent a much-needed assurance to firms regarding the legitimacy of
their generics production activities. Undoubtedly, the increased demand for drugs- both
lifestyle-related and others - will be the driving force of all growth in the pharmaceutical
sector over the coming years in India. The best and the most logical entry into the Indian
market for multinational companies is to launch newly patented products locally, but this
cannot proceed smoothly in the absence of a policy framework that clearly gives the
patent holder firms the right to enforce their patents within the country. The
multinationals rely to a large extent on a TRIPS-compliant regulatory framework, legal
certainty in the way the patent regime is interpreted, and better physical infrastructure
support to expand their activities in the Indian economy through the launch of their
patented products. The Indian firms, on the other hand, need a regulatory framework
that is sympathetic to their needs to extract synergies between their on-going generics
activities and emerging R&D opportunities worldwide.

The review of the trends in India’s TRIPS-compliant regulatory regime conducted

in this study shows that the Indian policy on implementation of the TRIPS Agreement

post-2005 has been an effort to (a) maintain the availability of drugs (for local
consumption and exports) at low prices and to (b) minimize the impact of the patent
regime on the domestic industry. The Patent (Amendments) Act of 2005 contains some
key provisions that lean in favour of public health. All pre-1995 patents do not qualify for
protection in India and all products with patent priority dates between 1995 and 2005 can
continue to be manufactured by generic firms despite grant of a patent in India, if the
generic manufacturers already had a market approved version of the patented drug, in
return for payment of a “reasonable” royalties to the respective patent holder firms. The
term “reasonable royalty” is not defined in the Act and therefore subject to interpretation.
Section 3 (d) of the Act that deals with the definition of patentability specifies that patents
will not be granted automatically for different forms of the same molecules, such as salts,
esters, polymorphs and decisions will be taken case-by-case to establish novelty in an
effort to prevent ever-greening of molecules. This and several other provisions are in
place in the regime to ensure a mitigated impact of the TRIPS-compliant patent regime
on local pharmaceutical firms. Indian firms need time to manoeuvre themselves into the
global pharmaceutical scenario for innovative R&D, and their strengths need to be
harnessed to extract rents from generics and contract research and manufacturing
activities: most of the policy developments in India fall into this line of vision.

The decision of the Indian high court on the Novartis case, as well as newer
ongoing disputes, such as the one related to Roche’s Ertolonib (brand name Tarseva)
analysed in the study show the on-going efforts in India to interpret the patent regime in
the interests of public health. However, it also raises an important issue of legal certainty
that the Indian regime needs to establish. Patents once granted need to be enforced,
and in the absence of clarity on this issue, the Indian policy framework may promote a
potentially precarious trend.

The analysis of the role of Indian firms in access to medicines worldwide shows
that Indian firms remain the most important suppliers of first as well as second-line
antiretroviral drugs, despite product patent protection. Whereas the market for first line
ARVs is heavily commoditised with several generic manufacturers for each of the
products, the second-line ARVs, especially Lopinavir/ Ritonavir and Atazanavir have
limited supply and Indian firms are playing a very important role in ensuring competition
in the market. Several local Indian firms have invested in the production of second-line
drugs Lopinavir/ Ritnonavir and Atazanavir. According to the Global Price Reporting
Mechanism (GPRM) database, generic competition amongst first line suppliers have
brought down the median price of the most commonly prescribed fixed dose combination
in first-line regimen (d4T 30 mg + 3TC 150 mg + NVP 200 mg) by 40% from US$ 153
(2004) to US$ 92 (2007) in low-income countries and from US$ 154 (2004) to US$ 91
(2007) in middle- income countries. The legal validity of the patents on these drugs in
India is still in the open, but given the present trends, it seems that patents on second-
line ARVs will not be granted in India on public health grounds. Indian firms are also the
sole manufacturers of several fixed dose combinations for HIV/AIDS, especially
paediatric fixed dose combinations.

Indian firms are also important suppliers of Malaria drugs, and have the potential of
producing generic versions of drugs to treat opportunistic infections that are presently
not available in resource-poor settings due to the high prices of patent holder firms.
These include Valgancyclovir and Valacyclovir. There is an on-going patent dispute on
the grant of patent to Roche for Valgancyclovir (Valcyte) and two Indian producers are
presently producing the drug. Some international procurement agencies are in the

process of helping to organise the supply of the drug to resource poor environments
where they are presently not in use due to their high prices.

The conclusions and policy recommendations that arise from the analysis are
presented here under three separate headings: those of concern to the pharmaceutical
sector, those related to the regulatory environment and those that are directed towards
enhancing access to medicines.

On the pharmaceutical sector

There is an emergence of a new industrial structure due to the gradual integration

of the Indian firms with the global pharmaceutical industry, increased modularization of
pharmaceutical innovation globally and outsourcing possibilities. Indian firms have
seized opportunities arising from pressures in the global innovation environment, but
they have also been innovative in building their own niches. To a large extent, their
model has been and continues to be one where they seek to disrupt global patterns of
innovation through the introduction of products that are cheaper, affordable and in some
cases, as in the case of the HIV/AIDS drugs, targeted towards the masses. In such
cases, the economies of scale results in benefits that only focusing on high-value added
products would not. Maintaining this diversified product portfolio is enabled by the strong
domestic base at home that offers an opportunity to manufacture drugs for a wide range
of diseases, including global diseases.

However, this mainstreaming of Indian firms into the global industry implies also a
greater sensitivity to changes in global regulatory structures that seek to favour
multinational firms and make it difficult for new entrants to establish themselves globally.
The recent Ranbaxy-Daichii Sankyo deal serves as a reminder of the turbulent market in
which the firms presently operate: the difficulties of integrating and making a place in
global innovation are as numerous as the opportunities they pose. Global realities of
pharmaceutical innovation are such that even established firms in developed countries
tend to rely more and more on government sponsored ‘translational’ public sector
research to create marketable products and venture capital institutions are coming under
increased strain. Indian firms, seeking to compete globally in this changing scenario, will
require much more strategic policy support by the government.

This strategic governmental support should be aimed both at encouraging firms to

disrupt patterns of global innovation in the pharmaceutical sector to create products for
the poor the world over, making medicines more accessible; and to help them focus their
efforts on accumulating greater technological capabilities while maintaining their strength
as low-cost innovators of high-value pharmaceutical products. This will include the
following.

1. The role of the Centre for Science and Industrial Research as a pro-active,
industry-oriented public sector institute needs to be revived apart from efforts to
strategically allocate public sector resources to support the firms.
2. A wider range of initiatives for enhanced collaboration between various actors in
the pharmaceutical innovation system needs to be put in place.
3. There is a need to re-think the relationship between price control and drug
availability and affordability that takes into account two important features of the
market:
a. The amount of competition in the market and the mark-ups in

10

 pharmaceutical products (due to unregulated intermediary stages) before

it reaches the consumers;
b. The importance of encouraging practices amongst Indian firms that allow
for price discriminations between regulated and unregulated markets.
Their products are intrinsically cheaper at the present, but this might
become an issue in the future with rising costs of conducting R&D in
India.
4. There is a need to enhance incentives for firms to invest into anti-retroviral drugs
and drugs for Malaria and Tuberculosis. There have been no new entrants in the
ARV market over the past three years, except Emcure and Cadila and the
markets for Malaria and Tuberculosis remain largely stagnant. There is a need to
envision newer incentives that focus on how to promote R&D in India for these
diseases in addition to the production of generic versions.
The newly created Department of Pharmaceuticals could play a critical role in enabling
support structures of relevance to the sector’s performance and growth.

On the Regulatory Framework

The way the Indian patent regime is being implemented calls for legal clarity.
There is a need for greater clarity on what is patentable in India, when (and for which
categories) can local companies apply for compulsory licenses, and under what
conditions can patents granted within India be over-ridden by Indian firms. There is also
a need to establish clearly how patents will be granted and what procedures will be
followed for pre and post grant oppositions. In the absence of this, extended legal battles
between local firms, MNCs and civil rights groups are costly and difficult to sustain. India
also needs to establish that it can not only grant but also enforce patents on
pharmaceutical products in cases where the applications are consistent with the
requirements of the Indian Patent Act. The Tarseva case (on Roche’s Ertolonib) for
example, leaves one wondering about the sanctity of the patents granted in India. It is
clear that the patent’s absence would be a major boon for public health. However, this
decision needs to be made at the ex-ante stage as to whether at all such products
should be granted patents in India.

That said, the spate of patent disputes shows how Indian legislators and courts are
seriously engaged in finding ways to promote access to medicines despite their
obligations under the TRIPS Agreement. This commitment is extremely valuable, and
should be fostered further through technical advice on how to achieve legal certainty in
interpretations of the Indian patent regime that balance the country’s obligations under
the TRIPS commitments and public health objectives.

There is a need for enhanced coordination (and not linkage) between the Patent
Office and the Drug Controller of India, which is in-charge of granting market approval to
all new drugs. There is also a need for more transparency in the workings of the patent
offices in the country. The Office of India’s Controller General of Patents, New Delhi is
now conducting an investigation on whether the grant of a patent on Valgancyclovir
(Valcyte) violated Indian patent rules. These forms of institutional costs can be avoided
by creating patent databases that allow for better functioning of the Patent Offices
around the country, and also help clarify the status of patent grants to those interested in
industry. Pre- and Post-opposition procedures also need to be clarified, the Valcyte case
again being a case in point.

11

 It is still not clear why India needs a data exclusivity regime as suggested by the
Reddy Committee Report after the transition phase. Although the regime suggested by
the Reddy Committee is in the interest of public health, the question that looms large is
whether and if this regime will be implemented in its entirety eventually? As this study
shows, leaving out one or two stipulations of the report will have far-reaching
repercussions on public health.

On enhancing access to medicines

This study shows that Indian firms continue to play a critical role as suppliers of
drugs for public health post 2005, especially HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and other
opportunistic infections. Given the fact that their presence has already brought about
some price reductions in Lopivanvir/ Ritonavir similar to what was observed in the case
of first-line ARVs, and their potential to further enhance competition in existing and future
drug categories for these diseases, much more effort is required to expand the role as
well as interest more firms in focusing on product portfolios that include these drugs. The
lack of capacity (both regulatory and technological) in Bangladesh and the lack of
political willingness to grant compulsory licenses on drugs of importance to public health
in China reinforce the findings of this study on the role played by Indian firms. Given the
importance of capabilities and economies of scale to engage in such activities, scarce
international resources seem better spent to facilitate Indian firms to enhance their
activities, rather than focus on building capacity in sectors in other least developed
countries. These efforts should include a re-think on international procurement
guidelines for ARVs in order to focus them on price-quality rather than the cheapest
price, in order to prevent the scope for any predatory pricing practices amongst the
generic producers. There is a need to preserve maximum dynamic competition in this
segment in the interest of global public health. Most of the ARV producing firms
interviewed for this study expressed difficulties of working with tenders that merely
focused on price to supply newer ARV drugs that required greater technological inputs
and increased formulation capabilities.

Specifically on the domestic regulatory strategies to enhance access to medicines

within India, there is not much correlation between local production and marketing
possibilities for various therapeutic categories of products and government’s access to
medicine strategies. Especially, there seems to be a very clear disjuncture between the
government’s plan to bring over 300 categories of drugs under price control and the
extent of competition witnessed in the market for key therapeutic categories. Mistaken
policy making in this regard may be detrimental to the interests of the sector at this point
of time.

12

1.0 Introduction

India’s product patent regime has brought the local pharmaceutical sector into the
global system in a way that its protected regulatory structures had never allowed before.
India continues to be a very significant global producer of generics drugs and local
Indian firms are actively involved in expanding through foreign acquisitions, setting up
global subsidiaries and hiving off separate R&D companies, all of which point to the
emergence of new industrial structures. The emergence of this new industrial dynamism
is strongly influenced by changes in global regulatory structures for pharmaceutical
innovation, influx of newer technologies and strategies of global players that go much
beyond outsourcing. Understanding the drivers of change will be important for the design
of meaningful interventions to enable the local sector to perform in the face of global
competition and in the interests of global public health.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the present legal and economic framework
in India and the emerging response of the local pharmaceutical sector since 2005, in
order to analyse its implications for access to medicines, both local and global. The main
research questions that this study deals with are:1
(e) What are the developments since India’s compliance with the Agreement on
Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 2005 in the
legal and economic framework that have implications for firms’ behaviour and
global access to medicines? How do the issues raised by (a) the Mashelkar
report (and its aftermath), (b) the Novartis case, and (c) the Reddy Committee
Report on data protection impact upon the creation of a conducive regulatory
framework for sectoral innovation?
(f) How do emerging disease trends within India (especially the growing importance
of non-communicable diseases) and in other developing countries affect issues
of availability and pricing of medicines in these segments?
(g) To what extent can India continue to be a global producer of cheaper generic
versions of drugs that are important from a public health perspective despite its
TRIPS-compliant patent regime?
(h) What forms of policy interventions remain significant to enable the sector to
expand as a global player, while retaining its role as a major producer of cheaper
drugs?

This study was conducted in three main stages. The first stage consisted of the
preparation of a background report based on secondary sources and the expert
perception of scholars and scientists in the field, on the basis of which a list of the top
hundred firms in the Indian pharmaceutical sector was derived. A range of semi–
structured interviews with experts and industry insiders were conducted as the second
step in order to help clarify the structure and content of the study framework and to
refine and provide content validation to the survey questionnaire. In the second stage,
semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 75 firms within the list of the top
hundred firms derived by ranking them according to their total revenue according to
company annual reports. Of these, 49 were retrieved and these form the basis of the
statistical analysis conducted in this study. The ranking of the top 100 firms on the basis
of their total revenues is listed in annex 4 of this study. The third stage consisted of
detailed field interviews with top-level management of firms that participated in the
survey (CEOs and directors of R&D and marketing) and experts working in national,

1
Taken from the TORs of this study.

13
regional and international organizations. The list of people interviewed is contained in
annex 2.

The scope of this study is to analyse the impact of emerging strategies of Indian
firms and the new developments in the policy framework on global and local access to
medicines. The analysis particularly focused on the issue of pricing and availability of
second line ARVs, in addition to other emerging segments. The survey targets a period
of five years, from 2003 to 2007, and builds further upon a similar survey carried out by
the author in 20052 that looked at the sector trends and emerging firm-level strategies
from 2000-2005, and a study conducted by Grace (2005)3 for the DFID that looked at
access to medicines in India and China.

2.0 The Indian Pharmaceutical Sector: Sector Growth and Main Drivers

The Indian pharmaceutical sector was estimated to be worth US$12bn in 2006/07

according to the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals. Although there are some
differences in industry forecasts – the Economist Intelligence Unit predicts it to be worth
US$ 20 billion a year by 2021,4 a Mckinsey analysis (2007) concludes this to be possible
already by 20155 and the Indian National Pharmaceutical Policy of 2006 sets this as a
feasible target for 2010 – there is no doubt that the sector is thriving despite India’s full-
scale compliance with the TRIPS Agreement in 2005. In 2005/06 the Indian
pharmaceutical industry’s share of the global market stood at 1.5% (ranked 13th) in terms
of value but at 8% (ranked fourth) in terms of volume.6 The domestic sector meets 70%
of all local demands for drugs despite the increased presence of multinational
companies since 2005,7 and 95% of all products sold in the market continue to be
generic drugs.8

Although there are around 10,000 registered local companies,9 the organised
sector is relatively small and comprises around 300 large and medium-sized firms, which
account for 70% of the entire market. Nine out of the top ten companies as of 2007 are
local companies (annual reports, see list of top 100 firms analysed in Annex 1) and they
hold approximately 30% of the entire market.10
Box 1.0 Market Figures at a Glance11

2
Padmashree Gehl Sampath, “Economic Aspects of Medicines After 2005: Product Patent Protection and
Emerging Firm Strategies in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry, A study for the CIPIH, WHO, 2005.
3
Grace, C., “Update on China and India and Access to Medicines”, Briefing paper for DFID, London: DFID
Health Resource Centre, November 2005.
4
Industry Forecast: Health Care and Pharmaceuticals India, Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007, p. 9
(hereafter referred to in this study as Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007).
5
KPMG, The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry: Collaboration for Growth, 2006 (hereafter referred to in this
study as KPMG, 2006).
6
India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India: Pharmaceuticals, A report by Ernst and Young for IBEF,
2006.
7
This is a decrease of only 5% of the position held by the Indian companies in the fiscal year 2003, where
they had a market share of 75%. See IBEF, India: Pharmaceuticals, Report prepared by the India Brand
Equity Foundation and Ernst and Young, 2004, p. 8.
8
Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007.
9
Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007.
10
KPMG, 2006.
11
Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007; Guatam Kumra, Palash Mitra and Chandrika Pasricha, Indian
Pharma 2015: Unlocking the Potential of the Indian Pharmaceuticals Market, Mckinsey and Company, 2007
(hereafter, Mckinsey, 2007); Bain and Co, The Indian Opportunity in Pharmaceuticals and Manufacturing,

14

 • In 2007, the local sector met 70% of the domestic demand for vaccines, APIs,
intermediaries and fixed formulations.
• In 2006/07 around two-thirds of production was for domestic consumption and the rest was
exported.
• This represented a 30% increase from 2005/06 figures and accounted for 2.5% of all
exports.
• Generics and active pharmaceutical ingredients are the main exports to over 150 countries
worldwide.
• The USA remains the main export market, with the EU becoming increasingly
important.
• The pharmaceutical sector is the most R&D intensive sector in the country presently. In
2006, the sector’s R&D investments exceeded all other major sectors, such as automobiles
and software.
• Nine of the top ten firms continue to be local firms since 2004.

Figure 1 below shows the main actors in the sector, the activities and the
distribution channels. The firms are engaged in both formulations (finished dosages) and
active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs, also called bulk drugs) that need to be mixed
with excipients to create the final drugs). According to the Department of Commerce
figures, formulations constitute around 80% of India’s total pharmaceutical production
and APIs make up for the remaining 20%.12 Until June 2008, the pharmaceutical sector
was under the mandate of the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, located in
the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. Recently, a new Department of
Pharmaceuticals has been created.

The formulation of policies for the sector is split between the Ministry of
Chemicals and Fertilizers, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (and the Department
of Intellectual Property Protection), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the
Ministry of Science and Technology (Department of Science and Technology and the
Department of Biotechnology).

Presented at the Annual Meting of the World Economic Forum 2008 (hereafter referred to as Bain and Co,
2008).
12
Also see the Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast 2007 and Mckinsey, 2007.

15
Figure 1: Organisation of the Indian Pharmaceutical Sector

Regulatory bodies Pharma companies Activities Distribution Users

Indian (Domestic)
Regulatory Bodies
• Dr. Reddy’s
• Cipla
• National
• Glenmark
Pharmaceutical Retailers
• Aurobindo
Pricing Hospitals
• Nicholas
Authority
Piramal Generics/ R&D
Dept. of Chemists &
• of new drugs/
Pharmaceutical Druggists
Contract Mfg
s C&F Patients

Associations

Global companies
• Indian Drug
present in India
Manufacturers
Association • Pfizer
(IDMA) • Novartis
• Organization of • Eli Lilly
Pharmaceutical
Producers in
India(OPPI)
For both Bulk Drugs and
• Indian
Formulations
Pharmaceutical
Alliance (IPA)

Source: author.

Furthermore, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is an

independent agency under the Department of Pharmaceuticals (it was earlier under the
Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals) in charge of fixing/revising prices of
selected pharmaceutical products in the country (both APIs and pharmaceuticals),
enforcing the provisions of the Drugs (Price Control) Order and monitoring the prices of
controlled and decontrolled drugs in the country. India has implemented several versions
of the Drug Price Control Order since 1964, and the Drug Price Control Order of 1995
brought down the coverage of price control to only 74 drugs. Presently there is a new
price control policy (of 2006) under consideration, upon enactment of which, over 300
different drugs could be brought under price control. The sector is organised under three
main industrial associations: the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India
(OPPI), the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) that comprises 15 of the top Indian
firms and the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA) that is a much larger
organisation with medium and small scale firms in addition to the large firms.

16

Figures 2 and 3: The Indian Pharmaceutical Sector: Market Shares and Main
Therapeutic Segments13

Split by Players
D r. R e d d y
10% Ra nba x y
7%
C ip la
7%
A u ro b in d o
1%

G le n m a rk
O th e rs 2%
55% N ich o la s P ira m a l
3%
S u n P h a rm a
C a d ila 3%
3%
L u p in
G la x o 3%

Ju b ila n t B io sys S m ith K lin e

2% 4%

Split by type Others

40.0%
Cardiac therapy
7.0%
Vitamins
6.0%
Respiratory ailments
5.0% Anti­Diabetic
3.0%
Anti­anemic
Antacids & Anti­Ulcerants
3.0%
4.0%
Anti­TB NSAIDS & Anti­rheumatic
3.0% 6.0%
Antibiotics CNS & Psychiatric therapy
16.0% 7.0%

US $ 11.31 bn (FY 07)

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories is the largest player in the Indian pharmaceutical sector
with a market share of 10%, followed closely by Ranbaxy, Cipla, Aurobindo and the rest
of the firms in the top ten category (figures 2 and 3). The drugs are distributed mainly
through retail outlets and physicians maintain a large amount of influence on the
introduction of new drugs/ substitution of existing drugs through other brand generics.
Drug companies employ large marketing forces to penetrate local markets through
institutional sales and private sales. Figures 2 and 3 show the market structure as well
as therapeutic categories for the formulations market. The API market, not represented
in the figures, is far more fragmented.

The industry continues to expand and figure 4 plots the increase in mean full time
equivalent employees between 2003 and 2007 for the 49 firms surveyed. Employment
rose from 866, 419 employees in 2003, to 1,414,286 employees (which is almost the
double) in 2007.

13
Source: Author. All figures used for the figure 2 are for fiscal year 2007, except for Ranbaxy,
GlaxoSmithKline, Wockhardt, whose figures are for current year 2006.

17

Figure 4: Rise in Mean Employment Between 2003 and 2007: Results of the Survey

Source: Author’s field survey, 2008.

Figure 5: Rise in Mean Sales for the 49 Firms Between 2003 and 2007: Results of

the Survey

Source: Author’s field survey, 2008

The main strategies and activities of the firms fall into three broad categories:
generics production, R&D and frontier innovation and contract research and
manufacturing, although there is a substantial overlap between these three activities in
the way Indian firms operate in the current context.

2.1. Generics Production

Pharmaceutical production costs are estimated to be 30-50 percent lower in India

than in Western countries,14 attributable to the expertise Indian firms have accumulated
in reverse engineering processes for APIs, scale economies of production, and lower
personnel and capital construction costs.15 According to the Department of Commerce
and Industry figures for 2006/2007, India exported pharmaceutical products worth US

14
KPMG, 2006.
15
Bain and Co, 2008, p. 2.

18
$3.1 billion thus recording a 30% increase over 2005/2006.16 Of the 20% of the APIs
produced in the country for 2007, between 55-60% were exported and the sector
exported almost two thirds of its total formulations production.

Box 2.0: Present Strengths in Generics Production17

• Expertise in reverse engineering processes for APIs

• Scale economies and production efficiency due to local API production
capabilities
• Lower personnel and capital construction costs
• Expertise and investments in emerging areas, such as biogenerics
• Competitive pricing strategies, especially for formulations, where India has a
head start of three to five years for finished formulations over China
• Large pools of English speaking scientific talent

Cost competitiveness of Indian generics continues to be the driving force of the

expansion of the sector. In a study that compared prices of generic drugs between nine
European countries and India in 2005, Indian and Scandinavian generic producers
emerged to be the cheapest suppliers of drugs.18 Amongst the fifteen molecules that the
study compared, Indian suppliers were 63% cheaper than other suppliers in the generics
market in Belgium, and the study found Germany, France and the Netherlands as
countries with the highest prices of generic drugs of the ten countries that were
compared in the study.

The line separating generics and R&D is a fluid one in the Indian context because
firms have tended to invest historically in R&D activities related to the production of
generics. In the years leading up to India complying with the TRIPS Agreement, the
dominant business model was one where firms focused on retaining generic product
pipelines, albeit extending into more demanding and innovative generic categories, such
as novel drug delivery systems.19 Now several pharmaceutical firms have established
separate R&D companies making the division between generics “R&D” and new drug
discovery more explicit. Broadly speaking, R&D investments in the sector can be split up
into generics-related R&D and proprietary R&D for drug discovery research. The
generics R&D is geared towards creating drug master files (DMFs) that are required to
get approval in the US market for the sale of active pharmaceutical ingredients and to
submit Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) that are a pre-requisite to receive
market approval for generic drugs. Indian generic firms are specialized in developing
non-infringing processes for the manufacture of generic products. Production of non-
infringing processes helps firms to produce generic versions of a product where the
patent on the new chemical entity (NCE) has expired but the product may have process

16
Department of Commerce and Industry figures and the Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007. Prior
to this, sector growth has been relatively steady at approximately 22.5% annually over the past few years
(National Pharmaceutical Policy, 2006 and KPMG, 2006, p. 6).
17
Field interviews, Bain and Co, 2008 and KPMG, 2006.
18
Steven Simoens, “International Comparison of Generic Medicine Prices”, Current Medical Research and
Opinion, 2007, at:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1195638/international_comparison_of_generic_medicine_prices/index.
html, accessed on 5 April 2008.
19
See footnote 2 above.

19
and formulation patents that are still valid.20 Firms such as Unichem Pharmaceuticals,
Matrix Pharmaceuticals and Divi’s Laboratories are good examples of firms in this
category. Matrix Laboratories’ non-infringing process on Citalopram (an anti-depressant)
ensured the company a sole exporter status of the API to Western Europe in 2004.21
Matrix Laboratories has also subsequently developed non-infringing processes for the
production of APIs for anti-retroviral drugs. Other categories of generics R&D includes
those related to new drug discovery systems (NDDS) and specialty generics as well as
biogenerics that are far more complex to manufacture, like injectables, biologics and
oncology therapeutics.22

Since India’s product patent protection regime, local firms are no longer able to
produce generic versions of drugs patented elsewhere in the world. There have been
several estimates of the costs imposed by this restriction on the sector. However, recent
estimates of off-patented products in the Indian market (including drugs whose patents
have expired and those which are not patentable in India) are as high as 95%.23 If this is
true then there is still a lot of opportunity for the Indian firms to thrive in the generics
market both in India and in other least developed countries that are exempt from
implementing the TRIPS Agreement until 2016, by offering substitutes to products
patented elsewhere.24 However, in practice, the firms’ abilities to cater to the demand for
cheaper generics in other developing and least developed countries are determined by
their choice of therapeutic product categories. The survey shows that the most popular
product categories are those related to the central nervous system (CNS) and the
cardiovascular system (CVS), followed closely by oncology and respiratory ailments.
Almost all firms interviewed cited the desire to focus on these products due to the
guaranteed long-term markets (since they are chronic ailments) and possibility to sell in
regulated markets (which is synonymous with higher pricing abilities and increased
profits). The surveyed firms were also asked to quantify the amount of their total
research that is focused on local disease conditions. The responses to this question are
shown in figure 6. Only 6% of the 49 firms that participated in the survey conducted all of
their research on local disease conditions, 18% of the firms admitted to conducting up to
half of their R&D on local conditions, and a large majority of the firms (75%) conducted
only 25% or less of their R&D on local disease conditions.

20
Sudip Chaudhuri, “Is Product Patent Protection Necessary in Developing Countries for Innovation? R&D
by the Indian Pharmaceutical Companies After TRIPS”, Working Paper Series of the Indian Institute of
Management, Calcutta, No. 614, September 2007.
21
See footnote 18 above.
22
Bain and Co, 2008.
23
Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007.
24
This may not amount to many countries in reality, since most least developed countries are TRIPS-
compliant as a result of several bilateral free trade agreements (see Chapter 4, Least Developed Countries
Report of UNCTAD, Geneva, 2007)

20

Figure 6: R&D on Local Diseases: Results of Field Survey

Source: Author’s field survey, 2008.

Markets: The USA remains the biggest export market for Indian firms. India has
approximately 100 FDA-approved plants; the largest number outside the US and
approximately twice the amount that China presently has.25 Indian drug firms sold
finished drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients worth US$800m in the US in 2006 and
accounted for over 20% of all generic drugs approved for marketing by the FDA in 2006,
compared with less than 7% in 2002.26 Recent estimates expect 250 Indian generics
products to be launched in the US market by 2008, as opposed to 93 in 2003.27

Up until the end of the 1980s, Indian firms focused extensively on the “rest of the
world” markets where there was little or no patent protection coupled with lax registration
requirements. The accumulation of enhanced technologies and production capabilities
was accompanied by a gradual shift of focus to the highly lucrative US generics market.
In recent years, companies’ performances reflect the gains from scale economies and
diversification in key markets. Firms like Ranbaxy and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories that set
the trend of focusing on regulated markets initially showed that winning a 180 days
exclusivity to sell their generics first in the US markets was a very lucrative option to
generate revenues, once the initial barriers to market entry were surpassed.28 Most field
interviews with firms shows that even when firms do not target the first-to-file 180 days
exclusivity afforded to generic drugs in the US market, their gradual expansion in the US
market brings in large benefits due to the price competitiveness of Indian generics and
the opportunities created by the US$ 100 billion worth of drugs going off-patent between
2006-2008.29

Ranbaxy was the second largest company in the Indian market until the recent
sale of a 50% stake to the Japanese firm Daiichi Sankyo (in June 2008). As a result of
25
Bain and co, 2008, p. 2.
26
Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007, p. 11.
27
KPMG, 2006, p. 9.
28
In the USA, when an abbreviated new drug application is submitted for marketing a generic drug, the
generic company is required to submit a certification regarding the patents for the drug in a so-called
“orange book”. One of the ways to do so is to make a Para IV application. When a generic company wins a
Para IV application, it is granted a 180 days exclusivity to market the drug in the US market.
29
Approximately USD 100 billion worth of drugs will lose patent status in the USA by 2008, and products
that went off-patent in 2006 itself generated USD 21 billion in sales. See Hans Loefgren, “The Global
Biopharma Industry and the Rise of Indian Drug Multinationals: Implications for Australian Generics Policy”,
Australian and New Zealand Health Policy, June 2007.

21

this deal Daiichi is now the fifteenth largest pharmaceutical firm worldwide (and the
second largest in the Japanese market after Tadeka Pharma) and Ranbaxy gets to
retain its name and its management until 2009. Prior to this, Ranbaxy was ranked within
the top ten global generics firms and had a good foothold in European markets through a
series of acquisitions. Other big firms like Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Ranbaxy
focus on product portfolios that cater to all the regulated markets and are certified
suppliers of generic medicines in the EU. However, the EU market is generally viewed
as more problematic by the firms due to the costs involved in dealing with the varied
regulatory approval processes (which are different for each of the twenty seven member
countries), linguistic difficulties, complex pricing dynamics, greater generic competition
and lack of experience of Indian firms to operate in the EU (field interviews). Despite
this, the emerging picture is one where firms diversify their exports between the US, EU
and other markets in Asia and Africa, albeit to different extents depending on their
product portfolios.30 Figure 7 below plots the revenues from exports for the top 10 firms
from 2002 to 2007.31

Figure 7: Revenues From Exports for the Top 10 Firms, 2002-2007

1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0

2002 ­ 03 2003 ­ 04 2004 ­ 05 2005 ­ 06 2006 ­ 07

Dr . Re ddy's Ranbaxy Cipla A ur o bindo G lenm ar k

Nicho las Pir am al Sun Phar m a Cadila Lupin G SK

Table 1 below indicates the percentage growth in exports between 2003 and 2007 for
the top 10 firms.

Table 1: Percentage Growth in Exports, 2003-200732

Company 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
Dr. Reddy’s -1% 7% -7% 31% 138%
Ranbaxy 32% -0.5% -5% -16% -3%
Cipla 15% 44% 30% 44% 18%

30
This is somewhat contrary to the expectations and initial strategies of firms just a couple of years ago. In a
similar firm level survey of the top 100 firms in 2005, most of the large Indian firms were very keen on
focusing exclusively on the regulated markets, since the profit margins of success in these markets were
very huge (Gehl Sampath, 2005, see footnote 2 above). Three years on, there seems to a consensus on the
importance of diversification so long as their product portfolios are in demand in other unregulated markets,
in order to insulate from shocks of focusing extensively on regulated markets.
31
Compiled by author using annual reports of the top ten pharmaceutical firms. Figures on the Y-Axis
represent Rs. Millions.
32
Compiled by author using the annual reports of the top ten firms, except Nicholas Piramal, Cadila and
Lupin.

22

 Aurobindo 16% 14% -14% 47% 34%

Glenmark 32% 58% 9% 116%
Sun Pharma 5% 46% 35% 33% 32%
GSK -41% -17% -4% 10% 37%

Hitherto purely generics firms have expanded into more R&D intensive domains by
acquiring R&D based firms abroad, thus combining their cost competitiveness with
innovative activities to explore upcoming markets such as biogenerics, which are
predicted to be worth US$30bn by 2015 within just the USA.33 In 2003-04,
biopharmaceuticals accounted for 60 percent of India's total biotechnology market, which
was worth an estimated $709 million.34 Several firms like Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy’s, Biocon
and Wockhardt focus extensively on health biotechnology and biogenerics.35 Wockhardt
already had 55 biopharmaceutical registrations pending with 26 approvals in 18 different
countries in 2005.36

The firms and their strategies remain heterogeneous. Several top firms remain
purely generic entities – Aurobindo, for example, the fourth largest firm in the market is a
purely generic company. The company, which was formerly only producing APIs is now
a producer of both APIs and formulations (although the formulations are sold only in
export markets). Aurobindo has a large R&D department, which employs 700 people but
they are all engaged in generics R&D (Field interviews). Similarly Cipla is a
predominantly generics company. Other firms like Dr. Reddy’s, Glenmark and Sun all
pursue mixed strategies of generics and drug discovery through varied models, and
these are discussed in the next section.

2.2. R&D Capabilities

Industry statistics show that large Indian firms invest approximately around 10% of
their total sales into R&D since early 2000s. In 2005 when India complied with the
TRIPS Agreement, the top five companies increased their R&D spending by 47% on the
whole, which amounted to US$ 192.3 million (as compared to USD 131 million for
2004).37 Table 2 shows the R&D spending of the top five firms in the Indian
pharmaceutical sector (excluding Cipla). A large share of this R&D still goes to
developing novel delivery systems, non-infringing processes, and similar activities that
feed into the generics business, thus building upon synergies between the need to be
competitive in the present, with the aspiration to build greater innovative capabilities to
integrate into the global structure.

Table 2: R&D Spending as a Percentage of Total Revenues of the Top 5 Firms From
2003 to 2006 (Excluding Cipla)38
Company 2003 2004 2005 2006
Dr. Reddy's 7.6% 9.5% 12.9% 9.6%
Ranbaxy 4.5% 5.3% 6.2% 9.4%
Aurobindo 1.2% 2.0% 3.1% 3.6%
Glenmark 4.4% 6.5% 5.3% 4.4%

33
Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007.
34
KPMG, 2006.
35
Field interviews; Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007; Hans Loefgren (2007), footnote 29 above.
36
KPMG, 2006.
37
KPMG, 2006, p. 21.
38
Compiled by author using company annual reports.

23
 Sun Pharma 3.4% 5.0% 5.9% 6.3%

It is important to note the considerable differences in R&D spending between the

top firms: Dr. Reddy’s spent 12% of its net sales on R&D in 2005 and almost 10% in
2006, whereas other companies like Nicholas Piramal, Aurobindo and Cipla still spend
less than 5 percent of their net sales on R&D activities, and the combined R&D
expenditures of the top five companies in India is still less than 3 percent of Pfizer
(KPMG, 2006, p. 21). The importance that firms’ place on R&D investments seems to be
linked to their strategies on (field interviews):
(a) Their product portfolios;
(b) Export orientation; and,
(c) Presence (or absence) of a vision to emerge as an R&D-based company.
For example, Ranbaxy exports between 65 to 70% of its total production, whereas
Nicholas Piramal only exports around 10-15% of its total production.39 There are several
firms that rank within the top ten in the sector that focus largely on drug discovery such
as Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Glenmark. This explains their
increased emphasis on R&D spending. Leaving the top firms aside, if one would take a
sector-wide approach considering all of the 10,000 odd firms, the R&D investments are
negligible as one goes down the ranking, if not non-existent. For the 49 firms that
participated in the survey, figure 8 shows the rise in mean R&D intensity from 2003 to
2007, from 3.5% of total sales to 5.5%.

Figure 8: Rise in Mean R&D Intensity From 2003 to 200740

Source: Author’s field survey, 2008

In recent times, several major companies have hived off their R&D operations into
newer entities. Ranbaxy, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Biocon have launched separate
R&D companies of their own. Similarly, Wellquest, a clinical research arm of the
Nicholas Piramal Group, launched a research centre in Hyderabad in mid-2007.41 The
centre has an investment of Rs100m (USD 2.5 million) and will focus on clinical trials,
generic-drug testing and the development of drug delivery systems. There are several
other leading Indian generics companies setting up separate R&D companies, including
Cadila Pharma and Lupin.

39
Pers. Comm, Dilip Shah, President, IPA.
40
R&D intensity is calculated as R&D as a percentage of total sales.
41
Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007, p. 11.

24
 Three major factors explain the growing separation of R&D and generics activities
in the pharmaceutical sector (field interviews). Generic products and proprietary R&D
both have their own product cycles: generics are less risky than proprietary R&D, take
only about 2-4 years and result almost always in a new product. Proprietary R&D, on the
other hand, is capital intensive, can take up to fifteen years and a marketable product is
not a certain outcome. Indian investors are used to a generics mode of investment:
short-term (2 years on average) with assured returns and marketable products. Firms
operating within this model find it increasingly difficult to raise finances for their
proprietary R&D activities; hence separating the operations and potential investors
makes it easier for them to operate. Secondly, huge R&D investments reduce the market
capitalization of the big firms, which in turn affects their aspirations to acquire more firms
abroad. Finally, Indian firms are collaborators and competitors for the global pharma at
the same time. While they challenge big pharma patents in India under the local regime
and abroad (to win the Para IV 180-days exclusivity in the US market) to protect their
generics business, they also collaborate with the multinational companies on several
drug discovery fronts, including phase III and IV clinical trials (which very few Indian
firms can finance and conduct in-house). Most firms expressed the view that separating
proprietary R&D from generics work helped to build trust with big pharma partners for
collaborations on product development.

25

Box 3.0 Drug Discovery Prospects in the Indian Pharma Sector: Sun and
Glenmark42

Glenmark presently has eight molecules in clinical trails and its therapeutic areas of focus are
inflammation, metabolic disorders (diabetes and obesity) and dermatology. Oglemilast, an
asthma drug is in phase 2-B and the company has partnered with Forest, US for a deal that
guarantees it 190 million dollars in upfront payment with back-to-back royalties on global
sales of the product. Another molecule, GRC 8200 for Diabetes treatment is also in phase 2
B, for which Glenmark has partnered with Merck KGAA. The 250 million USD deal for GRC
8200 contains a 31 million dollar upfront payment and also stipulates back-to-back royalties
along with milestone payments. GRC 6211 against Osteoarthritis, also in phase 2, is being
jointly developed with Eli Lilly. As part of a 350 million USD deal for GRC 6211, Glenmark
has received an upfront payment of 45 million, and the deal also segments the USA, Europe
and Japanese markets to Eli Lilly.

Sun Pharmaceutical’s lead product is an anti-allergic presently in phase 2 clinical trails.

Although its product development is fully funded by Sun, the drug is being developed in
collaboration with a clinical research organization since Sun does not have the requisite in-
house capabilities. There are three other molecules lined up in pre-clinical stage; a soft
steroid for asthma, a neurological drug and a muscle relaxant. In the last three years, the
company has conducted five acquisitions, including three American companies, one in
Hungary and one in India. The acquisition of an Israeli company based in the USA was
underway in April 2008 when the field interviews with Sun Pharmaceuticals were conducted
for this study.

Examples of acquisitions and expansions to enter new markets: Indian firms made 18
international acquisitions between January 2004 and October 2005, including Matrix
Labs' acquisition of Belgium's Docpharma for $263 million in June 2005; Dr Reddy's
acquisition of Roche's API business for $59.6 million; Ranbaxy's acquisition of a 40%
stake in Japan's Nihon Pharmaceutical Industry; and Sun Pharma's completion of its
purchase of ICN Hungary for an undisclosed sum.43 In 2006, Ranbaxy acquired a South
African generics company, Be-Tabs, apart from Ethimed (Belgium), Therapia (Romania)
and Mundogen (Spain).44 In 2006, Dr Reddy's bought out Germany's fourth-largest
generics company, Betapharm Arzneimittel, from UK-based 3i for $573.6 million, which
was the biggest acquisition seen in the sector until then. In March 2007, Ranbaxy and
Cipla pulled out of bidding for the generic-drug unit of a Merck.45

Examples of acquisitions and expansions to enter newer segments: This includes

Nicholas Piramal's acquisition of Avecia Custom Drug Synthesis of the UK for $16.7
million in 2005 and Jubilant Organosys acquired Hollister-Stier Laboratories (US) in May
2007.46 Wockhardt acquired the Wallis Laboratory (1997) and CP Pharmaceuticals
(2003) based in the UK, and Esparma, Germany in 2004 for its biopharmaceutical work.

India’s TRIPS compliance has been accompanied by some increase in R&D

investments by the large MNCs. Merck inaugurated its first wholly owned subsidiary,
MSD India Private Ltd in July 2005 after being absent in the Indian market for 20 years
42
Source: Personal communication with Glen Saldanha, CEO, Glenmark, 2 April 2008; Uday Baldohta, Vice
President, Sun Pharmaceuticals, 2 April 2008.
43
See also KPMG, 2006 for a discussion.
44
Economist Intelligence Unit Forecast, 2007, p. 11.
45
Same as above, at p. 12.
46
Same as above, at p. 12.

26
in 2006.47 The Indian interpretations of the patenting provisions under TRIPS are also
encouraging foreign firms to either buy out Indian firms or to set up wholly new
production units within the country thus helping the local sector to expand further. The
most recent acquisition of a 50% stake in Ranbaxy by Daiichi Sankyo is one such move.
The generic firm Actavis (Iceland) bought out the API division of Sanmar
Pharmaceuticals Ltd (Chennai) in a bid to get into generic production in India in 2007.48
Similarly, a Malaysian generics firm, Hovid, plans to establish a manufacturing plant in
India in order to be able to produce generic versions of drugs it cannot produce in
Malaysia due to Malaysia’s more stringent patent regime.49

2.3. Contract Research and Manufacturing

Indian firms have developed capabilities in various stages of the drug discovery
and development process and conduct contract research and manufacturing for foreign
firms. Apart from the low costs of the pharmaceutical production process, the overall
R&D costs are about one-eighth and clinical trial expenses around one-tenth of Western
levels,50 which add to the profitability of contracting-out activities to Indian firms, in a
global pharmaceutical environment that is hard-pressed to cut costs. Local firms conduct
contract research and manufacturing (also called CRAM) for foreign firms in areas
ranging from clinical trials to drug discovery to non-infringing process development to
simply manufacturing APIs and formulations. These factors have accelerated the growth
of the local contract research and manufacturing sector, which was estimated at $895
million for fiscal year 2006.

Some recent, interesting forms of contract research include basic molecular

research, gene mapping, drug discovery and managing clinical trials, discovery
chemistry for domestic and global pharmaceutical companies.51 There are over fifty
clinical research organizations in the country;52 the more cited ones being Kendle,
Quintiles, Siro Clinpharm and iGate. India rates second on the list of the most attractive
low cost global locations to run clinical trials outside the US. According to McKinsey
(2007), India and China will account for almost forty percent of global pharmaceutical off
shoring in the coming years. Pfizer has approximately twenty ongoing clinical trials in
India, GSK has 7, and Eli Lilly has seventeen trials, in addition to other firms like
AstraZeneca and Novartis.53

Several large Indian firms have entered into contract research agreements for
product development with the big pharma to gain R&D expertise in exchange for
cheaper production possibilities. Ranbaxy and GSK have reached an agreement in 2007

47
KPMG, 2006, p. 17.
48
Deepti Ramesh, “Actavis to Buy Indian API Business”, Chemical Week, February 14-21, 2007, p. 23.
49
David Ho, Hovid’s managing director believes that Hovid will be able to produce many more drugs in India
due to its flexible interpretations of the TRIPS Agreement. See Deepti Ramesh, “Malaysian Firm to Establish
Plant in India”, Chemical Week, February 14-21, 2007, p. 23.
50
KPMG, 2006.
51
Some of the firms have been really innovative in discovering and exploring new niche activities. For
example, Avaant Pharmaceuticals’ main focus is to secure drug development licenses for compounds that
were discovered by global pharmaceutical firms, but subsequently ignored either due to research difficulties,
change in R&D focus or management changes in the company. Avaant presently has licenses for drug
development from several big companies, like Bayer (Krishnan, G. S., “Avaant Pharmaceuticals-The
Contrarian”, Cover Story, Businessworld, 13-19 June 2006).
52
Directory of Clinical Research Companies in India – November 2005, Cygnus India.
53
KPMG, 2006.

27
where Ranbaxy will help develop some of GSK’s products in return for tacit R&D skills
and experience in handling complex pharmaceutical innovation processes (Field
interviews). API production for large or international firms and marketing agreements are
other popular kinds of cooperation. Matrix laboratories has been very successful as a
contract manufacturer of cheaper non-infringing processes of API development for many
years now (field interviews). Table 3 below contains an illustrative list of contract
research agreements by major Indian firms.

Table 3: Some Major Contract Research Agreements54

Company Client Drug
Cadila Healthcare Altana Two intermediates for pantaprazole
Dishman Solvay 6 projects, including supply of starting material
and intermediates for eprosartan
Dishman Astra Zeneca Intermediate for esomeprazole
Dishman Merck & Co. Intermediate for losartan
Dishman GlaxoSmithKline Three intermediates
Hikal Degussa Manufacturing intermediates and API’s to
Degussa on a project basis
Lupin Cyanamid Intermediates
Matrix Wyeth Supply of acyclovir
Nicholas Piramal GlaxoSmithKline MOU for drug intermediates; no fixed tenure
Nicholas Piramal Astra Zeneca Intermediates
Nicholas Piramal Pfizer Intermediates and APIs
Nicholas Piramal AMO Five year contract of ophthalmic products
Nicholas Piramal Allegran APIs for levobunolol and brimonidine
IPCA Astra Zeneca Contract manufacturing of APIs
Strides Acrolabs Mayne Injectables Manufacturing

Example of acquisitions to expand contract research: Jubilant Organosys acquired

Target Research Associates plus 64 percent of Trinity Laboratories and its wholly -
owned subsidiary Trigen Labs, in the USA in 2005. Bilcare Ltd acquired preclinical Inc.,
its first manufacturing facility in the United States in 2005.

3.0 Understanding the Emerging Industrial Dynamics

Three factors seem to be driving the growth of the Indian pharmaceutical sector
presently. Its integration into the global industry is favourably advanced by trends in
global health innovation that relate to expansion of the global generics sector and
increased pressure on ‘big pharma’ to cut costs. There is a gradual blurring of the
innovator and generics categories at the global level due to the complex innovation
environment in which firms operate. Pharmaceutical innovation is becoming more
modularized, with specific competencies for each stage that are often not available in-
house, or do not make sense to conduct in-house due to cheaper outsourcing
possibilities. This has meant increased out-sourcing at various stages of the drug
discovery and development process.

54
Compiled by author.

28
 This architectural re-structuring of global pharmaceutical innovation caused by
newer technologies, global regulatory processes as well as the needs of consumers
worldwide to access drugs at reasonable costs, has opened up possibilities to
modularize innovation stages.55 Apart from the USD 100 billion worth of drugs that are
expected to come off patent by 2008,56 large pharmaceutical firms, such as Merck and
Pfizer are in cost-cutting modes, making pharmaceutical off-shoring a real and important
option globally.57 It is estimated that the pressures on big pharma will lead to a surge in
the contract research and manufacturing market, which is projected to grow at the rate of
10.8 percent annually to reach US$168 billion by 2009.58 Indian pharmaceutical firms are
operating within this changing global landscape, and their expanding R&D activities and
economies of scale in manufacturing are important assets. The superior competitive
strategy at the generics level calls for evolved innovative prowess, and does not leave
much space for the so-called pure generics company as opposed to the innovative big
pharma.

Indian firms have been quick to fill in the emerging opportunities as a result of
these changes and also influence the innovation process in their favour. They pursue a
simultaneous collaborator-competitor strategy in local and global markets where they
compete with the international firms for generics and launch patent disputes to protect
their interests, but at the same time, collaborate with them on various R&D fronts.
Varying business models seem to be emerging, depending on what the firms perceive to
be their intrinsic strengths and how they can capitalize on it. As opposed to their extreme
focus on regulated markets, firms diversify their portfolios between regulated and
unregulated markets to capture economies of scale depending on their product portfolios
and areas of interest. Several firms view the opportunities in developing and least
developed country markets as their stronghold. Firms have also attempted to set up
subsidiaries or independent companies in other least developed countries in order to be
able to operate in legal regimes that are not TRIPS-compliant and to reap the scope for
legal flexibilities in these countries. Sun Pharmaceuticals recently set up a company in
Bangladesh; Cipla has embarked upon a recent initiative with the Ministry of Health in
Uganda to set up a plant for the manufacture of antiretroviral and anti-malarial drugs in
the country. This is the first alliance between an Indian firm and an African government,
aimed at building local capacity to produce drugs of critical relevance to the country’s
health care system. Hetero Pharmaceuticals has acquired several firms in Latin
America, and several other Indian firms are seeking to branch out into African countries
through joint ventures and alliances – Strides Acrolabs, for example, now has a joint
venture with Aspen Pharmacare, South Africa (field interviews). Indian firms have also
begun to use their technological capabilities to create products for specific low-income
markets thereby disrupting existing modes of pharmaceutical innovation, a case in point
being the fixed dose combinations for antiretroviral drugs, discussed in section 5.1 of this
study.
55
See Ming Zeng and Peter J. Williamson, Dragons at your Door: How Chinese Cost Innovation is
Disrupting Global Competition, Harvard Business Press (2007), for an analysis of this phenomenon in
China.
56
See Loefgren 2007, footnote 29 above.
57
Merck intends to cut 25% of its manufacturing workforce and achieve a 30% reduction in product costs. It
also intends to sell off or close five of its existing plants to create a network that combines its own
manufacturing with the capabilities of external suppliers. Similarly, Pfizer plans to effect a ~25% cut in its
manufacturing plants as part of its $4bn cost-savings plan until 2008 and plans to close 23 of its 93 plants.
58
Frost and Sullivan (2006), Frost and Sullivan Study on Contract Research and Manufacturing, Health Care
Practice Frost and Sullivan. Downloadable at:
www.icis.com/ICISCONNECT/files/folders/155/download.aspx, accessed on 7 March 2008.

29

 A second factor in favour of the Indian firms is the rapid expansion of the local
pharmaceutical market and health care within India. Rising personal incomes,59
changing disease profiles (with a larger share of global diseases within the country) and
the increased privatisation of health care (with a rise in specialised clinics, hospitals and
treatment centres) are creating new market opportunities in second and third tier Indian
cities and towns.60 Although the local market is crowded, has too many small and
medium firms, and has had lower profit margins than what can be gained by entering
regulated markets abroad up until now, the increase in local purchasing power along
with the changing disease profile of Indians both amount to a lucrative market. The
advantage of an expanding domestic market for a wide range of diseases, including
global diseases, offers Indian firms a secure base to invest. Several firms are expressly
focusing on mass therapies to be delivered through the improving infrastructure and
distribution channels into rural India (field interviews).

Thirdly, the policy stance of the Indian government in favour of public health and
the local industry has lent a much-needed assurance to firms regarding the legitimacy of
their generics production activities (field interviews). Undoubtedly, the increased demand
for drugs- both lifestyle-related and others - will be the driving force of all growth in the
pharmaceutical sector over the coming years in India. The best and the most logical
entry into the market for the MNCs is to launch new patented products in India, but this
cannot proceed smoothly in the absence of a policy framework that clearly gives the
patent holder firms the right to enforce their patents within the country. The MNCs rely to
a large extent on a TRIPS-compliant regulatory framework, legal certainty in the way the
patent regime is interpreted, and better physical infrastructure support to expand their
activities in the Indian economy through the launch of their patented products. The
Indian firms, on the other hand, need a regulatory framework that is sympathetic to their
needs to extract synergies between their on-going generics activities and emerging R&D
opportunities worldwide.

Indian policy since its compliance with the TRIPS Agreement in 2005 has focused
very much on public health and the needs of the local firms. Indian policy makers have
been keen on extracting and retaining flexibilities permitted within the TRIPS framework,
in order to promote public health and the local firms. Despite the fact that most local
firms interviewed cited the policy developments to be purely in the interest of public
health, they also admitted that they were favourable to them. However, given the present
legal stance of the government, it remains to be seen whether the MNCs will go ahead
to introduce patented drugs in the Indian market to the extent that is being anticipated. It
is worthy to note here that the introduction of drugs by MNCs in India is the basis for
many of the industry forecasts: Mckinsey (2007) for example, estimates that India will be
ranked 10th with respect to value and its market will be worth $US 20 billion by 2015.61
The base-case estimate made in the study for a US$2 billion market size assumes that
during 2010 to 2015, 35 to 40 new molecules will be launched globally every year, and
75% of these will be introduced in the Indian market within a year of global launch (see

59
The EIU forecasts that healthcare spending (in rupee terms) will rise by 9% between 2008-2013. Indian
government has also committed to enhance its healthcare expenditure to 6% and more in the coming years.
60
The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts a growth in consumption of pharmaceuticals to slow slightly in
2008-12 to an annual average of 4% in local-currency terms, from 6.2% in 2002-06, and the healthcare
spending is predicted to have an average annual growth of about 9% in rupee terms between 2008-2013
(See Economist Intelligence Unit Report, 2007, p. 8-10).
61
See Mckinsey Report, 2007, p. 13-14.

30
p. 14). This is why the study also stresses on the government’s need to take a pro-
patent stance. The multinational firms interviewed for this study also expressed the need
for India to take a pro-TRIPS stance, and implement patents that have been granted
without legal ambiguity (field interviews). But then again, a country’s pro-patent stance
does not guarantee the introduction of patented drugs and products.62

4.0 Indian Policy Framework and Access to Medicines Issues

The pharmaceutical sector has been a focal sector in India since the 1960s, and
the government has put in several incentives in place to enable sectoral
competitiveness, with changing emphasis over time. This has included investment in the
creation of skilled manpower of relevance to the sector, establishment of public sector
institutions such as the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the
Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), investment in biotechnology parks,
establishment of export processing zones and easing the emergence of venture capital
institutions. Indian firms also receive several other benefits for exports that enables them
to price their products competitively in export markets. For example, firms located in
export processing zones are entitled to customs benefits, tax benefits for export (which
could extend up to fifteen years) and also Capital Expenditure (Cap Ex) benefits.

Table 4 below contains the responses of the surveyed firms on the policies that
matter most for new process and product development in the sector. The table shows
that skilled manpower and venture capital that contribute positively and significantly to
both types of innovations, and local infrastructure service that contributes positively and
significantly to new product development.

62
A study that analysed the interrelationship between the two concluded that there were many factors other
than patent regimes that influenced the decision of companies on whether or not to introduce drugs in
developing country markets and often, the time lag between the introduction of a drug in the USA or a EU
country and developing countries was as big as ten years. See Jean O. Lanjouw, “Patents, Price Controls
and Access to New Drugs: How Policy Affects Global Market Entry”, A Study Commissioned by the CIPIH,
Geneva: World Health Organization, 2005.

31

 Table 4: Institutions for New Product and Process Development: Results of Survey

Variable New product development New process development

No Yes p-value No Yes p-value
Institutions
Govt. incentives 0.250 0.320 0.588 0.308 0.261 0.717
Skilled manpower 0.583 0.960 0.002** 0.654 0.913 0.030*
Collaboration with local 0.333 0.400 0.628 0.346 0.391 0.744
R&D universities
Collaboration with local 0.417 0.440 0.869 0.462 0.391 0.620
R&D institutes
Intellectual property 0.500 0.640 0.322 0.538 0.609 0.620
Local infrastructures 0.458 0.760 0.030* 0.615 0.609 0.962
Venture capital 0.208 0.560 0.012* 0.231 0.565 0.016*
SMI schemes 0.208 0.320 0.376 0.231 0.304 0.560
Govt.-firm tech. transfer 0.375 0.200 0.175 0.308 0.261 0.717
Staff transfer 0.542 0.600 0.680 0.538 0.609 0.620
Source: Field survey by author, 2008.

Controlling the data collected in the survey for the characteristics of innovator
versus non-innovator firms in the sample shows that firms that are involved in new
product and new process development receive more frequently government assistance
than those that are not, once again underscoring the governmental focus on new
process and product R&D in the sector. The R&D intensity is on average significantly
larger for process innovators than for process non-innovators (i.e., product innovators),
and product innovators export slightly significantly more often than product non-
innovators.

The government also plans to introduce several new schemes of relevance to the
local pharmaceutical sector.63 This includes schemes that allow companies participating
in R&D to set higher margins for their drugs, soft loans of three percent for companies
who collaborate with governmental research facilities, R&D grants for firms who engage
in clinical trials for drugs to treat neglected diseases. There are on-going efforts to revise
other rules and regulations related to pharmaceutical research that seem outdated in the
present context. For example, in order to encourage domestic R&D and capabilities,
Indian regulations granted tax incentives to firms to engage in R&D within the country.
This was a necessary incentive in earlier times where the government’s motive was to
encourage local R&D to enable the local sector to grow. However, in today’s context,
most MNCs are performing R&D in India (and benefiting from this incentive) and most
Indian companies are contracting out phase III and IV clinical trials to companies abroad.
The government therefore plans to introduce a new scheme that will serve as a fiscal
incentive (in terms of tax deduction) for Indian firms that are conducting R&D outside
India, recognizing the new realities of the sector.

The table also shows a slight rise, but not a significant contribution of
collaborations with local institutes and universities to new product and process
development efforts by firms. This reinforces the results carried out by a similar survey
by the author in 200564 and calls for policies that can foster better collaboration between
the various organisations involved in pharmaceutical innovation to enhance
competitiveness. The Centre for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) played a

63
Field interviews with officials of the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India.
64
See Gehl Sampath, 2005, footnote 2 above.

32

central role in transferring technologies to local pharmaceutical firms when they were in
their nascent stages in the 1970s and the 1980s, and along with several other public
research institutes helped the pharmaceutical sector to develop its reverse engineering
expertises. However, some recent reviews of the CSIR reveal that of the 984
technologies developed by 23 laboratories, 607 technologies were yet to be transferred
to the private sector over the past decade. 247 technologies developed before 1996-97
were not transferred to the enterprise sector as of 2003. Analysing the reasons for non-
transfer of 246 developed technologies showed that 77 technologies were not found fit
for transfer, while 87 required further improvements/developments. In 82 cases including
34 developed prior to 1999-2000, the negotiations for transfer were under way, but
results were unclear. 65

With the benefit of hindsight, it seems that pubic sector research was slow to
change and focus on product development or other emerging needs of the industry as a
result of organisational mandates and institutional inertia that is common to innovation
environments in developing countries. As the firms moved further on from manufacturing
to innovation territories, public sector organisations remained more inertia-driven. Some
organisations managed to change and have newer visions of how they could support the
private sector, whereas several others remained stagnant. The CSIR, for example,
became quite active in promoting innovation largely perceived in terms of replication of
the experience of the western countries for building innovation capabilities in the sector
and even began promoting a local version of the Bayh-Dole Act for the Indian public
sector in the past decade.

Furthermore, the local pharmaceutical firms did not have a very strong culture of
collaboration up until 2005 because all products in the market were generics, and firms
mainly competed under brand names. This affected ways and means in which
collaboration could be structured on the whole. This notion is changing slowly with firms
beginning to focus on private-private collaborations, but there is a need for more policies
that foster public-private collaborations for product development and other emerging
areas. Most firms interviewed had not collaborated with and were largely unenthusiastic
on the question of collaboration with institutes in the public sector due to their lack of
product development focus. The proposed governmental incentive on soft loans for
collaboration with governmental research facilities is one effort to resolve this.

Post 2005 policy on implementation of the TRIPS Agreement in India has been an
effort to (a) maintain the availability of drugs (for local consumption and exports) at low
prices and to (b) minimize the impact of the patent regime on the domestic industry. The
Patent (Amendments) Act of 2005 contains some key provisions that lean in favour of
public health. All pre-1995 patents do not qualify for protection in India and all products
with patent priority dates between 1995 and 2005 can continue to be manufactured by
generic firms despite grant of a patent in India, if the generic manufacturers already had
a market approved version of the patented drug, in return for payment of a “reasonable”
royalties to the respective patent holder firms. The term “reasonable royalty” is not
defined in the Act and therefore subject to interpretation. Section 3 (d) of the Act that
deals with the definition of patentability specifies that patents will not be granted
automatically for different forms of the same molecules, such as salts, esters,
polymorphs and decisions will be taken case-by-case to establish novelty in an effort to

65
Dinesh Abrol, “The Reality of Chasing Global Innovation Leadership: Lessons from CSIR, India”,
Presentation at the fourth Globelics Conference, Saratov, 10-14 September 2007.

33

prevent ever-greening of molecules. This and several other provisions are in place in the
regime to ensure a mitigated impact of the TRIPS-compliant patent regime on local
pharmaceutical firms. Indian firms need time to manoeuvre themselves into the global
pharmaceutical scenario for innovative R&D, and their strengths need to be harnessed
to extract rents from generics and contract research and manufacturing activities: most
of the policy developments in India fall into this line of vision.

However, trends in global pharmaceutical innovation reveal that investment by

governments into public sector research, especially of the kind that translates research
into marketable products is becoming very important the world over, and venture capital
investments into biotechnology are gradually failing.66 In this context, it is important that
the government of India establishes more rigorous support structures for the sector in
addition to patent interpretations that are in favour of the local sector.

4.1. The Mashelkar Committee Report

In an effort to elaborate upon the provisions of the Patent (Amendments) Act,

2005, the Indian government set up a technical expert group set up under the
chairmanship of R. A. Mashelkar, Director General of the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research that examined two main issues:
• Whether it would be TRIPS compatible to limit the grant of patent for

pharmaceutical substance to new chemical entity or to new medical entity

involving one or more inventive steps; and,

• Whether it would be TRIPS compatible to exclude microorganisms from

patenting.

The committee report found that whereas it will not be TRIPS compatible to grant
pharmaceutical patents to new chemical and new medical entities only, every effort must
be made to provide drugs at affordable prices to the people of India. The committee
recommended that the grant of frivolous patents and ‘ever-greening’ should be
prevented through the formulation of detailed guidelines that can be used by the Indian
Patent Office for examining the patent applications on pharmaceuticals. It also
concluded that it will not be TRIPS-compatible to exclude microorganisms from
patenting, but detailed guidelines need to be formulated to ensure that only those
patents proving ‘substantial human intervention’ and ‘utility’ are granted. The report,
which was supposed to clarify the provisions of the Indian patent regime on patentability,
was submitted in December 2006 was withdrawn in February 2007 on grounds of
technical inaccuracy and plagiarism, thus not contributing much to clarity on the Indian
patent regime. It is highly unlikely that this report will be re-submitted in the near future.

4.2. The Novartis Judgement, Tarseva and Valcyte: What is “Patentable” in India?

One of the first cases post-2005 that challenged the stance of the regime on
patentability was the Novartis case. Gleevec, Novartis’s anti-cancer drug, was India’s
first exclusive marketing right (EMR), on a beta crystalline version of the compound
Imatinab Mesylate. Indian generic producers of the drug challenged the EMR on
grounds that the compound Imatinab Mesylate was a derivative of a molecule that was
known prior to 1995, and therefore does not qualify for patent protection. At the time
when the EMR was granted, several Indian companies were producing generic versions

66
OECD, Bioeconomy to 2030, 2008, pre-publication draft, on file with the author.

34
of Imatinab Mesylate, including, Cipla, Ranbaxy and Sun Pharmaceuticals. The EMR
was withdrawn and Novartis was subsequently also refused a patent on Gleevec. In
response, Novartis moved the Indian high court challenging the constitutional validity of
section 3 (d) in the Indian Patent Act of 2005, claiming that such an interpretation is
against the TRIPS Agreement. The High Court in Madras issued a judgement in 2007,
deeming Section 3 (d) to be constitutional and not against the TRIPS Agreement.

The Gleevec case seems to set a precedent of sorts on what is patentable under
the Indian patent regime. There are other, newer disputes on similar grounds. The
Tarseva case (box 4) and the Valcyte case help show some of the loopholes in the
present system, and the thin line walked on by the Indian judiciary to promote public
health.

Box 4.0 The Tarseva Patent Dispute67

The Indian Patent Office granted a patent on the lung cancer drug, Ertlonib to Roche (brand
name Tarseva) earlier this year, around which time, Cipla received marketing approval for
marketing a generics version of the drug from the Drug Controller’s office. Cipla had made no
pre-grant or post-grant opposition to Roche’s patent, but having received the market approval, it
went ahead and launched the drug explicitly violating the product patent on Tarseva that had
been granted to Roche. At the same time, another drug company, Natco (which had made a pre-
grant opposition to Etrolonib that had been rejected by the Patent Office) applied for a
compulsory license to sell the drug in Nepal (a least developed country).

Roche approached the Delhi High Court requesting for the grant of an injunction stopping Cipla
from marketing the product. The Delhi High Court, while denying an injunction on 18 March 2008,
based the decision on three grounds:
(a) The presence of a prima facie case
(b) Balance of convenience, which in the court’s view shifts to Cipla because it is
manufacturing locally
(c) And the degree of hardship (in terms of the price difference between the patented drug
and the generics version) that will be shifted to consumers in case Roche is granted an
injunction.
A new patent application by another US-based firm, OSI Pharmaceuticals on the crystalline
version of the same drug is pending in the Indian patent office, which may not be granted given
the Indian Patent regime’s stance on crystalline versions of patented molecules. Despite this,
keeping the patent application in mind, the Delhi High Court has asked Cipla to maintain accounts
of the sale from this drug in case the final judgement of the case decides in favour of Roche and
Cipla will have to pay royalties over the sale of the drug to Roche. If the final judgement rules in
favour of Cipla, it will set a new precedent which is quite the opposite the present patent regime.

The case is still going on and Roche expects the hearing to go in its favour. The case also shows
the lack of coordination between various offices, especially the patent office and the Drug
Controller of India, when it comes to granting marketing approval and patents of drugs. On the
issue of compulsory license that Natco has applied for, Natco claims it has a letter from the
Nepalese government. Whether this is sufficient to constitute a notification under Section 92 A of
the Indian Patents Act of 2005 which deals with compulsory licensing for exports to other least
developed countries is unclear. Natco has also another application for a compulsory license
pending for Sutinib (Pfizer’s Sutent).

Another on-going dispute concerns a patent granted to Roche on Valgancyclovir

67
Personal communication with Deepali Talvar, Director Legal Services, Pfizer; the OPPI Representatives
and Chan Park of the Lawyers Collective.

35

(brand name Valcyte) by the Chennai Patent Office in June 2007. Valgancyclovir is an
anti-infective used to treat opportunistic infections related to HIV/AIDS.

The timeline of events in the Valcyte case are as follows:

June 1995 Roche files a patent application for the drug.
July 2006 Pre-grant opposition filed by the Lawyers Collective, an NGO, on behalf
of two organizations; the Indian Network of People Living with
HIV/AIDS and the Tamil Nadu People with HIV/AIDS.
June 2007 Patent grant by Chennai Patent Office.
Sept 2007 Objection to the grant of patent by Lawyers Collective, a public interest
organization, on both procedural and substantive grounds.
Dec 2007 Cipla files post-grant opposition
Feb 2008 Ranbaxy files post-grant opposition.
June 2008 Post-grant opposition filed by the Delhi Network of People Positive
(DNP+), which is an organization of people living with HIV/AIDS.

The Lawyers Collective objection to Roche’s patent on Valcyte is based on two

main grounds. Firstly, the US Patent Office rejected the patent that has been granted by
the Chennai Patent Office already in 1994 on grounds that the drug had been in public
domain for three years already at that time. Roche then went ahead and secured a
patent on a crystalline form of the drug based on the claim that it makes the drug simpler
to manufacture. The Indian patent that has been granted includes both the original use
as well as the crystalline version. The objection is targeted at the Chennai office for (a)
having granted a patent on a product that was declined a patent in the US for having
been in the public domain; and (b) for having granted a patent also on the crystalline
version of the drug which is against section 3 (d) of the Indian Patents Act. Additionally,
the Lawyers Collective has also objected on procedural grounds: normally, when a pre-
grant opposition is filed, the patent office is obliged to hold a hearing. However, no
hearing was held in the Valcyte case. The case has become all the more complicated
since Cipla and Ranbaxy have joined post-grant opposition.

As anticipated, the Indian and foreign firms were split on the implications of these
legal developments.68 Almost all the Indian companies interviewed agreed that these
were good trends, both for public health and for the local generics sector. There was
overwhelming consensus amongst the local firms that India’s patent stance was
reasonable from a public health stand point of view, and that they would continue to
apply for patents on esters/salts/ polymorphs/combinations abroad to protect their
interests in the export markets (field interviews).

4.3. The Reddy Committee Report on Data Protection

According to Article 39(3) of the TRIPS Agreement, member countries are under
an obligation to provide protection to regulatory data submitted for receiving market
approval of pharmaceutical products under specific circumstances. The Government of
India constituted an expert committee in order to deal with the steps that need to be
taken to comply with Article 39(3) of the TRIPS Agreement. The report (also known as
the Reddy Committee Report) submitted in May 2007 acknowledges that: (a) data
protection is relevant for any product at the stage of market approval, whether or not its

68
The IPA and OPPI have expressed their divergent positions on several policy developments, including the
Reddy Committee Report on Data Protection; see respective websites.

36

patent-protected; (b) it is a protection provided in return of submission of proprietary test

data required for market approval; and (c) it protects against unfair commercial use and
disclosure.

The Committee Report dealt with the issue of data protection for pharmaceuticals
and agro chemicals separately suggesting different forms of protection for each of the
categories. In the context of pharmaceuticals, the committee concluded that the present
legal regime is probably not adequate to address issues on data protection with respect
to Article 39.3, and that the Drugs & Cosmetics Act needs to have clearer legal
mechanisms to ensure that undisclosed test data is not put to unfair commercial use
within India. The Committee concluded that there was a need to improve the system and
make necessary legal changes and explicitly provide for the minimum requirements
under Article 39.3 of TRIPS.

The Report calls for a two-stage approach to data protection for all new chemical
entities:69 a transition stage and a data exclusivity regime to be enacted at the end of the
transition stage. In the transition stage, the Report recommends that test data that
companies seek to protect can be protected through trade secrets. During this stage, the
Drug Regulator of India will continue to be the central body in-charge of market approval
of drugs, and companies that wish to protect their data, they can specifically request for
protection of the said data as trade secrets. The report provides that in case the data
that are supposed to be protected as trade secrets are leaked out, the company in
question can receive damages for trade secret violation.

It provides a model of data protection (of five years in duration) to be applied at the end
of the transition period. This model of data protection incorporates several features that
are meant to make it more public health-centred. The main features of the post-transition
model of data protection as recommended by the Report are:
(a) The test data will not be relied upon by the drug regulator for second or

subsequent market approvals;

(b) The protection applies with prospective effect only, for all molecules discovered
after 01 January 1995;
(c) In case of a patented drug, the data protection should not go beyond the term of
protection of the patent, failing which it will lead to extension of market exclusivity
to the patent holder;
(d) The period of protection will be counted from the date of first marketing approval
granted anywhere in the world in order to ensure that companies market their
new drug in India at the earliest in case they wish to receive data protection for
their product;
(e) Data protection provisions will be over-ridden by all provisions in the Indian
Patent Regime on compulsory licensing (sections 84 to 92 A) and Section 107
which provides for the Bolar Exception in order to ensure public health;
(f) Date protection provisions can be waived by the government of India at any point
of time due to any public health emergency;
(g) During a public health emergency, the government can rely on data provided by
the proprietary firm to grant market approval to any other firm;

69
The report defines ‘new chemical entity’ for purposes of data protection as: “a chemical compound which
contains an active ingredient or formulation of such an ingredient that has not been previously approved in
India irrespective of its registration or use in any other country.” (Emphasis added)

37

 (h) Government of India reserves the right to control the prices of the drugs under
data protection;
(i) The provision of data protection to any firm in India should not restrain
manufacture of generic versions (not approved) for export to other countries that
do not have data protection for the product in question, or where the data
protection for the product in question has expired.

Implications of the Reddy Committee Report on Access to Medicines

There is a clear distinction between keeping information secret (data protection)

and doing approvals and clinical work “relying” exclusively on the original patent holder’s
data submitted to obtain regulatory approval for the patented product (data exclusivity).
Article 39(3) of the TRIPS Agreement places a requirement upon member countries to
provide protection to regulatory data under specific circumstances. However, it is not
clear as to whether a strict reading on Article 39(3) calls for a regime of data
exclusivity.70 Data exclusivity, a relatively new form of intellectual property protection, is
one such form of protection and it refers to the protection of clinical data that contain
data submitted by pharmaceutical companies to regulatory agencies, such as the US
Food and Drug Administration and the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal
Products (EMEA), for the purposes of obtaining market approval of patented drugs.71
Grant of data exclusivity (five years in the case of the model proposed by the Reddy
Committee Report) prevents the regulatory agency from using the data submitted by the
originator company to determine bioequivalence of generic products for the said period.

The Reddy committee report is another effort by the Indian government to

balance its obligations under the TRIPS Agreement with public health. The Report
leaves the length of the proposed transition period in the open (it could extend to
anything between five or ten years). Even after the end of the transition period, it
recommends that higher standards of data protection should be provided only after
careful assessment “…of its impact on the sector and public to avoid any adverse
repercussions in the long run.”

Whereas the post-transition model has incorporated several safeguards in the

interest of fastest introduction of generics, and public health (features (b) to (i) above), it
still remains unclear why the report concluded that India needs a new system of data
exclusivity. India has not had a very reliable system of test data submitted for marketing
approval of products, and earlier studies of the sector have shown that domestic firms
have relied on access to the data in order to be able to reverse engineer quickly and
cost-effectively.72 That said there seem to be sufficient legal mechanisms in place to
strengthen protection of test data, without having to provide a data exclusivity term of
five years in order to comply with Article 39 (3) of the TRIPS Agreement. In common law
(on which the Indian legal system is based), unfair commercial use is a remediable
ground. Furthermore, trade secret protection, which was earlier on a weaker form of
protection under the Law of Torts and Contracts in India (as the report also notes) has

70
Carlos Correa, Protection of Data Submitted for the Registration of Pharmaceuticals: Implementing the
Standards of the TRIPS Agreement, South Centre, 2002.
71
Meir Perez Pugatch, “Intellectual Property and Pharmaceutical Data Exclusivity in the Context of
Innovation and Market Access’, Paper Presented at the UNCTAD-ICTSD Dialogue on Ensuring Policy
Options for Affordable Access to Essential medicines, Bellagio, 12-16 October 2004.
72
See Lanjouw, Jean O., "Intellectual Property and the Availability of Pharmaceuticals in Poor Countries."
Innovation Policy and the Economy, Vol. 3, 2002 and Gehl Sampath (2005) in footnote 2 above.

38

been elevated to the status of an intellectual property category under the TRIPS
Agreement. Thus, strengthening the existing regulatory mechanism for data protection
within the country and relying on trade secrets seems to be sufficient to comply with the
requirements of Article 39(3) of the TRIPS Agreement.

Most importantly, the challenge of the Reddy Committee Report remains its
holistic enactment as India’s data exclusivity regime after the completion of the transition
stage. In other words, several provisions remain key to ensure that the data exclusivity
regime will not run against the interest of the local pharmaceutical sector and public
health. Specifically, the clauses that state that in the case of a patented drug, the data
protection should not go beyond the term of protection of the patent and that the period
of protection will be counted from the date of first marketing approval granted anywhere
in the world are very important safeguards.

As a hypothetical exercise, if India presently had a data exclusivity regime that

provided only five years of protection as stipulated by the Reddy Report, but did not
contain the provision that it should be from the date of first marketing approval granted
anywhere in the world, then the Valcyte and Tarseva cases would look very different.
Both products would have obtained five years protection of their data under the data
exclusivity regime. In such a case, regardless of whether the patents on the products
were valid under the Indian patent regime, companies will not be able to obtain
marketing approval for generic versions of these products, unless they repeat clinical
trails. This would be expensive, ethically dubious and cause undue delays in generic
entry.

5.0 ARV Production by Indian Firms and Emerging Disease Segments

The WHO estimates that by the end of 2007, there were an estimated 33.2
million [30.6 million-36.1 million] people living with HIV and about two thirds of those live
in sub-Saharan Africa.73 As of December 2006, only 2.2 million people were receiving
treatments, and this figure had gone up to about 3 million people [2 700 000-3 280 000
people] at the end of 2007 in low and middle income countries, nearly 950 000 more
compared with the end of 2006.74 India itself has the second-highest number of people in
the world living with HIV/AIDS, according to the National AIDS Control Organization
(NACO) and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS and only 7% of those people have
access to treatment.75 Further, according to the WHO, only 23% of the people in need of
ARVs in Africa had access to it in 200676 and only 31% as of 2007.77

5.1. Impact of Changing Industry Trends on First and Second Line ARVs

73
WHO, Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector,
Progress Report, 2008, WHO Geneva.
74
WHO, Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector,
st
Progress Report, 2008, WHO Geneva; Global Fund ARV Fact Sheet, 1 December 2007.
75
EIU Forecast 2007, p. 9; WHO, 2007. It is not clear from these statistics as to how much of this lack of
access can be attributed directly to the lack of affordable drugs. Inefficiencies in drug distribution and
procurement impacts upon access, but it is not the focus of this work.
76
UNAIDS AIDS Epidemic Update: Special Report on HIV/AIDS. December 2006. Geneva, Switzerland:
UNAIDS/WHO, 2006.
77
WHO, Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector,
Progress Report, 2008, WHO Geneva.

39

 Amongst the top fifteen firms, only four (Ranbaxy, Cipla, Aurobindo and Hetero)
manufacture first and second line ARVs. The other firms that produce ARV products –
Matrix, Emcure, Strides and Micro Labs – are not amongst the top 15 in the market, but
all ARV-manufacturing firms were interviewed in detail during the survey. Of these
Ranbaxy, Aurobindo and Matrix Laboratories all began to produce ARVs due to the
commercial incentives provided by the President’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief
Initiative (PEPFAR) that was launched in 2004.78

Tables 5 and 6 show the global supply scenarios for ARVs: they contain a list of
first line and second line ARVs, with originator/ patent holder firms, Indian generic
manufacturers who are currently manufacturing the drugs, and producers in the rest of
the world for the same products. The tables give us an idea of the role played by generic
producers in India in making access to anti-retroviral drugs universal even after 2005
and India’s compliance with the TRIPS Agreement.

78
Cheri Grace, "The Effect of Changing Intellectual Property on Pharmaceutical Industry Prospects in India
and China; Considerations for Access to Medicines", DFID Health Systems Resource Centre: London, 2004.

40

 Table 5: First-line ARVs: Patent Holders and Generic Producers79

First-line ARVs
80
Drug Originator/ Patent Indian Generic Producers Generic Producers in
Holder the
Rest of the World
Stavudine ( d4T) Bristol Myers Squibb Cipla, Hetero, Matrix, Duopharma (Malaysia),
Zerit Ranbaxy, Aurobindo, Strides Aspen Pharmacare
Acrolabs, Emcure (South Africa), Ranbaxy
(Malaysia)
Zidovudine ( ZDV) Glaxo Smith Kline (UK) Ranbaxy, Cipla Ltd, Hetero, Aspen Pharmacare
Retrovir Strides Acrolabs, Aurobindo, (South Africa)
Emcure, Matrix,

Zidovundine (AZT) Glaxo Smith Kline (UK) Matrix, Strides Acrolabs, Aspen Pharmacare
Retrovir Hetero, Aurobindo, Cipla, (South Africa), Apotex Inc
Ranbaxy, Micro Labs, (Canada),

Lamivudine ( 3TC) Glaxo Smith Kline (UK) Cipla Ltd, Aurobindo, Micro Aspen Pharmacare
Epivir Labs, Ranbaxy, Matrix, Strides (South Africa)
Acrolabs, Hetero, Emcure
Nevirapine ( NVP) Boehringer Ingleheim Ranbaxy, Cipla Ltd, Aspen Pharmacare
Viramune (USA) Aurobindo, Hetero, Strides (South Africa), Huahai
Acrolabs, Emcure, Matrix, Pharmaceutical (China),
Micro Labs, Duopharma (Malaysia)
Efavirenz (EFV) Merck Ranbaxy, Aurobindo,
(200 mg) Stocrin Strides Acrolabs, Hetero,
200 Micro Labs, Cipla Ltd,
Efavirenz (EFZ) Bristol Myers Squibb Cipla, Hetero, Matrix,
(600 mg) Stocrin (Puerto Rico), Merck Aurobindo, Strides Acrolabs,
600 Sharp & Dohme Ranbaxy, Emcure, Micro Labs,
(Australia) Emcure
Emtricitabine (FTC) Gilead Sciences but Aurobindo, Matrix, Cipla
Emtrival Merck owns the rights
for Canada and
Australia
Didanosine (DDI) Bristol Myers Squibb Aurobindo, Micro Labs, Cipla
( 200 mg) Videx Ltd,
Didanosine (DDI) Bristol Myers Squibb Aurobindo, Ranbaxy, Micro
(400 mg) Videx EC Labs,

79
Data collected from each website of all Manufacturing Companies, The Global Fund, List of ARV
Pharmaceutical Products Classified According to the Global Fund Quality Assurance Policy for Single and
Limited Source Pharmaceutical Products, Edition 53, June 30, 2008; CHAI, Anti Retroviral Price List, April
2008; WHO Prequalification Programme, Manufacturers And Suppliers Whose HIV-Related Medicines Have
rd
Been Found Acceptable, In Principle, For Procurement By UN Agencies, 63 Edition, February 2008.
80
This column contains the name of the compound, followed by its abbreviation in brackets, and the brand
name from the originator firm in italics.

41

 Table 6: Second-line ARVs: Patent Holders and Generic Producers81

Second-line ARVs
82
Drug Originator/ Patent Indian Generic Producers Generic
Holder Producers
In the Rest of
the World
Tenofovir disoproxil Gilead Sciences Cipla Ltd, Aurobindo, Hetero,
fumarate Strides Acrolabs, Matrix,
(TDF) Viread Ranbaxy
Indinavir (IVD) Crixivan Merck Ranbaxy, Strides Acrolabs,
Emcure, Micro Labs, Hetero,
Cipla Ltd, Cadila
Pharmaceuticals

Lopinavir ( LPV/r) Abbott Aurobindo, Hetero, Emcure,

Kaletra Matrix, Ranbaxy, Cipla Ltd
Nelfinavir ( NFV) Pfizer, but Roche has Cipla Ltd, Aurobindo, Hetero,
Viracept the distribution rights Emcure
Abacavir (ABC) Ziagen GSK Ranbaxy, Cipla Ltd, Aurobindo,
Hetero, Strides Acrolabs,
Emcure, Matrix,
Atazanavir (ATV) BMS Hetero, Emcure, Matrix, Aspen
Riyataz Aurobindo Pharmacare
(SA)
Saquinavir (SQV) Roche
Fortovase or Invirase
Ritonavir Norvir Abbott Aurobindo, Matrix, Ranbaxy,
Cipla Ltd,

As the tables show, whereas the market for first line ARVs is heavily
commoditised with several generic manufacturers for each of the products, the second-
line ARVs, especially Lopinavir/ Ritonavir and Atazanavir have limited supply and Indian
firms are playing a very important role in ensuring competition in the market. According
to the Global Price Reporting Mechanism (GPRM) database, generic competition
amongst first line suppliers have brought down the median price of the most commonly
prescribed fixed dose combination in first-line regimen (d4T 30 mg + 3TC 150 mg + NVP
200 mg) by 40% from US$ 153 (2004) to US$ 92 (2007) in low-income countries and
from US$ 154 (2004) to US$ 91 (2007) in middle- income countries.83

Therefore, the most important question is how India’s TRIPS compliance will
impact upon the emergence of an equally competitive market for second-line ARVs for
local consumption and export? This is a very important issue for global access to
medicines because almost all ARVs that have received pre-qualification under the
WHO’s prequalification programme for essential medicines as of 01 February 2008 are
manufactured by Indian firms apart from the South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare’s and
China’s Zhejiang Pharmaceutical Co (the latter has a pre-qualification only for
Nevaripine).

81
Same as footnote 79.
82
This column contains the name of the compound, followed by its abbreviation in brackets, and the brand
name from the originator firm in italics.
83
A Summary Report by the Global Price Reporting Mechanism on Antiretroviral Medicines, February 2008.

42

 Table 7: Patent Applications for ARVs Pending in India84

Patent application Form
Lopinavir Crystalline/ polymorph
Ritonavir Crystalline/ polymorph
Lamivudine+Zidovudine Combination
Abacavir+lamivudine+zidovudine Combination
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate Ester/salt

Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), has a ester/ salt patent whose priority patent
date is 1997, and the patent holder firm is Gilead. Gilead’s patent application on TDF is
presently pending consideration with the Indian Patent Office. Presently, several firms
(including Emcure and Hetero) have voluntary licenses to produce the product in return
of which they pay an undisclosed amount of royalty to Gilead (field interviews). A recent
case won by the Indian patient groups in the USA has led to the rejection of four patents
on Gilead’s TDF drug Viread on grounds that the patents did not meet certain criteria of
patentability. Although this decision is not a final one, Gilead is obliged to share this
information with the Indian Patent Office according to Section 8 of the Indian Patent
Act.85 What happens to Tenofovir is very important because several key countries have
adopted or are currently considering adopting Tenofovir in their first-line
Protocols, including Botswana, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Namibia; Nigeria, and Zambia. Given
the expanding coverage of patients for first-line regimens in low and middle-income
countries, the demand for Tenofovir is forecast to rise.86

GSK has dropped patent claims on its second line ARV drug Abcavir and Trizivir,
which is a combination therapy of three first and second-line ARVs. Other second-line
ARVs whose production remains highly critical are: Atazanavir and Lopinavir/ Ritonavir
(LPV/r). Atazanavir’s patent is held by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), whereas the
Lopinavir has a priority patent date post-1995 and Abbott holds the patent. According to
the WHO’s 2008 Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) Guidelines, Nelfinavir (patent held by
Pfizer) has been disqualified to be a protease inhibitor, and several countries have
switched to regimens with LPV/r instead. Of the 42 regimens prescribed by the 2008
guidelines, several of them contain LPV/r, such as: TDF+3TC+LPV/r, TDF+ FTC+LPV/r,
ddi+ABC+LPV/r.

Similar price reductions have been observed in some second-line drugs,

although second line treatments remain very expensive when compared to first line
treatments in low-income countries, according to the WHO (2008).87 Introduction of
Lopinavir/Ritonaavir by Indian firms like Cipla saw reductions in Abbott’s prices for
Kaletra in the Indian market by a significant margin (field interviews). Abcavir’s median
price has reduced from US$ 887 (2004) to US$ 426 (2007) in low-income countries and
from US$ 887 (2004) to US$ 410 (2007) in middle-income countries. However, the
median price of LPV/r (133/33mg) has decreased much more in middle-income

84
Adapted and modified from Leena Menghaney, “HIV/AIDS Treatment Legal and Political Choices for
India”, Journal of Creative Communications, 2006, Vol. 1, Issue 2, p. 195-202, at p. 198.
85
Section 8 requires that patent applicants keep the Indian Patent Office informed of the status and
developments regarding equivalent foreign applications.
86
WHO, Demand Forecast for Antiretroviral Drugs in Low and Middle Income Countries 2007-2008,
prepared by the WHO, UNAIDS, Clinton Foundation and the Mexican Institute for Public Health, November
2007, p. 24.
87
WHO, Towards Universal Access: Scaling Up Priority HIV/AIDS Interventions in the Health Sector,
Progress Report, 2008, WHO Geneva.

43

countries than in low income countries and the prices of other second-line drugs remain
high.88 This makes the issue of ensuring adequate price competition through generic
firms very critical, especially so because 97% of HIV-infected persons in low-income
countries are being treated with first line regimens and will need to shift to second-line
regimens sometime in the coming future.

Although there are four firms presently well on their way to produce generic
versions of LPV/r and heat-stable LPV/r (Aurobindo, Cipla, Matrix and Emcure) which is
expected to make them widely available at cheaper prices, these firms have made
investments into producing the drugs only after 2005, and hence are not protected under
the clause in India’s patent regime which allows continued production for the payment of
a ‘reasonable royalty’. This leaves the issue of validity of the manufacture of the drug by
the other firms much in the open.89 It is likely that Abbott will defend its patent in India,
given that it enforces its patent rights on Kaletra strictly in China (which is why there are
no Chinese manufacturers of the drug). But given the way the Tarseva case has been
received by the Indian courts, there is a high probability that the judiciary will rule in
favour of the local generic firms and public health. This is what the firms are also hoping
for (field interviews). However, if the patent rights are upheld, they may affect the
availability and use of all regimens that contain LPV/r.

It seems unlikely that BMS will defend its patent on Atazanavir in India.
Presently, Aurobindo, Emcure, Hetero and Matrix are coming up with generic versions of
Atazanavir (field interviews). Emcure and Aspen (SA) have received voluntary licenses
from BMS, but the other three firms have come up with their own technologies for the
manufacture of Atazanavir. Emcure has received WHO pre-qualification and the other
two firms expect to receive WHO pre-qualification later this year. There is no
procurement data available in the GPRM database for Atazanavir presently, but it is
expected that the entry of several generic versions of the drug will help to lower the
prices and enhance the availability of the drug as a second-line regimen.

In addition to competitive supply of Lopinavir/ Ritonavir and Atazanavir, it is

important to note that Indian firms have been key players in creating fixed dose
combinations of recommended first-line regimens, several of which were not available in
the market by the originator companies since the early 2000s. These fixed dose
combinations are a key example of how Indian firms have been active in evolving new
and disruptive forms of innovation in order to create products that are pro-poor by
targeting to benefit mainly from the economies of scale involved. Table 8 below contains
a list of adult ARV fixed dose combinations that are presently available, and the
important role played by Indian firms in this regard.

88
A Summary Report by the Global Price Reporting Mechanism on Antiretroviral Medicines, February 2008.
89
Aurobindo and Hetero are both suppliers to the PEPFAR initiative and this might account for their
production.

44

 Table 8: Adult Fixed Dose Combinations: Patent Holders and Generic Producers90
Adult Fixed Dose Combinations
Fixed Dose Combination Originator/ Patent Generic Producers Generic Producers
91
(FDC) Holder India in the Rest of the
World
Abacavir + Lamivudine Glaxo Smith Kline (UK) Aurobindo, Cipla Ltd.,
600 mg + 300 mg Hetero Drugs
(ABC + 3TC)

Abacavir + Lamivudine + Glaxo Smith Kline (UK) Matrix Laboratories,

Zidovudine Ranbaxy, Aurobindo,
300mg + 150 mg + 300mg Hetero Drugs
(ABC + 3TC + AZT)
Didanosine + Efavirenz + Cipla Ltd.
Lamivudine
(ddI + EFV + 3TC)
400mg + 600mg + 300mg
Efavirenz + Emtricitabine + Merck Sharp & Dohme Matrix Laboratories,
Tenofovir (Canada; the Cipla Ltd.
600mg + 200mg + 300mg Netherlands), Bristol
(EFV + FTC + TDF) Myers Squibb and
Gilead Sciences Int.
(Canada)
Efavirenz + Lamivudine + Strides Acrolabs,
Stavudine Emcure, Ranbaxy
600mg + 150 mg + 30mg/
40 mg
(EFV + 3TC + d4T)
Efavirenz + Lamivudine + Ranbaxy, Strides
Zidovudine Acrolabs, Aurobindo,
600mg + 150mg + 300mg Cipla Ltd., Emcure
(EFV + 3TC + AZT)
Emtricitabine + Tenofovir Gilead Sciences Hetero Drugs, Strides
200mg + 300 mg Acrolabs
(FTC + TDF)
Lamivudine + Zidovudine Glaxo Smith Kline (UK), Cipla Ltd., Hetero
150mg + 300mg Pharmacare Ltd. ( Drugs, Cadila
(3TC + AZT) South Africa) Pharmaceuticals,
Ranbaxy, Matrix
Laboratories,
Aurobindo, Strides
Acrolabs, Emcure
Lamivudine + Nevirapine Strides Acrolabs,Hetero Aspen Pharmacare
+ Zidovudine Drugs Ltd. (South Africa)
150 mg + 200mg + 300 mg
(3TC + NVP + AZT)
Lamivudine + Stavudine Cipla Ltd., Ranbaxy,
150 mg + 30 mg/ 40 mg Strides Acrolabs,
(3TC + d4T) Aurobindo, Matrix
Laboratories, Hetero
Drugs, Emcure

90

Source: Same as footnote 79

91

This column contains the name of the compounds, their strengths, followed by their abbreviations in
brackets.

45

 Lamivudine + Stavudine + Cipla Ltd., Ranbaxy, Duopharma

Nevaripine Hetero Drugs, Emcure, (Malaysia)
150mg +30mg/40 mg + Aurobindo, Matrix
200 mg Laboratories, Micro
(3TC +d4T + NVP) Labs, Strides Acrolabs,
Emcure
Lamivudine + Nevirapine + Matrix Laboratories, Aspen Pharmacare
Zidovudine Strides Acrolabs, (South Africa),
150 mg +200mg + 300 mg Hetero Drugs, Cipla Apotex Inc (Canada)
(3TC + NVP + AZT) Ltd., Ranbaxy, Micro
Labs, Aurobindo,
Emcure
Lopinavir + Ritonavir Abbot Laboratories (UK Aurobindo, Matrix
133.3mg + 33.3mg/ 200 and USA, Germany) Laboratories, Ranbaxy,
mg + 50 mg Cipla Ltd., Hetero
(LPV + r) Drugs, Strides Acrolabs,
Emcure

The same is true also in the case of paediatric fixed dose combinations. Table 9 below
contains a list of paediatric FDCs presently available. Indian firms have created value
added by creating paediatric ARVs for children in association with the Clinton
Foundation for HIV/AIDS (CHAI),92 prior to which there were no ready-to-use dosages
for HIV-infected children, see table 9.

Table 9: Paediatric Fixed Dose Combinations: Patent Holder and Generic

Producers93
Paediatric Fixed Dose Combinations
94
Fixed Dose Combination Patent Generic Producers Generic
Holder India Producers
Firm In the Rest of
the World
Lamivudine(20mg) + Stavudine (5mg) + Ranbaxy
Nevirapine (35 mg)
Lamivudine (40mg) + Stavudine (10mg) + Ranbaxy
Nevirapine (70 mg)
Lamivudine (30mg) + Stavudine (6mg) Cipla Ltd.

Lamivudine (60 mg) + Stavudine (12 mg) Cipla Ltd.,

Lamivudine (150 mg) + Stavudine (30 mg) Cipla Ltd., Ranbaxy, Strides
Acrolabs Ltd., Aurobindo,
Matrix Laboratories, Hetero
Drugs
Lamivudine (30mg) + Stavudine (6mg) + Cipla Ltd
Nevirapine (50 mg)
Lamivudine (60 mg) + Stavudine (12mg) + Cipla Ltd.
Nevirapine (100mg)
Lamivudine (150 mg) + Stavudine (5 mg) + Ranbaxy
Nevirapine (35mg) tablet for oral suspension
Lamivudine (150 mg) + Stavudine (10 mg) + Ranbaxy

92
DAT Overview, Clinton HIV and AIDS Initiative, 11 April 2008.
93
Source: same as footnote 79.
94
This column contains the name of the compounds, their strengths, followed by their abbreviations in
brackets.

46

Nevirapine (70mg) tablet for oral suspension

Lamivudine (20 mg) + Stavudine (5 mg) Ranbaxy
Lamivudine (40mg) + Stavudine(10mg) Ranbaxy

It is also important to consider the impact of patenting on the interests of Indian

firms to create appropriate fixed dose combinations for second-line ARVs that employ
Lopinavir/ Ritonavir and Abacavir, such as Abacavir + Didanosine + Lopinavir/Ritonavir
(ABC + ddI + LPV/r), Lamivudine + Lopinavir/Ritonavir + Zidovudine (3TC + LPV/r +
AZT), Lamivudine + Lopinavir/Ritonavir + Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (3TC + LPV/r +
TDF), Didanosine + Lopinavir/Ritonavir + Zidavudine (ddI +AZT + LPV/r).

5.1.1. The Situation in China and Bangladesh: Why is India’s Supply Critical for
Global Public Health?

Globally, there are two other countries that could potentially play the role of
generic producers of important patented products: China and Bangladesh. Bangladesh
has presently two firms, Square Pharmaceuticals and Beximco (the two largest local
firms) that produce ARVs. Potentially, since Bangladesh (as a least developed country)
is exempt from the TRIPS Agreement to implement its provisions on pharmaceutical
patents until 2016, and it has an active local pharmaceutical sector, it could serve as a
global supplier of public health-related drugs. However, Bangladesh needs to enact a
new patent regime in order to be able to reap these flexibilities, since its present Patent
Act of 1911 allows for both product and process patents on pharmaceuticals for a period
of sixteen years (extendable by ten more). In the absence of a new Patent Act, it would
at least need a legal ordinance or executive order that would invalidate these provisions
under the Patent Act of 1911. A second requirement would be to build capacity amongst
the local firms: they are presently only producing some first line ARVs. Beximco is
manufacturing Lamivudine, Zidovudine, Efavirenz and Stavudine whereas Square
Pharmaceuticals is manufacturing Efavirenz (Adiva), Lamivudine (Hivarif), Lamivudine
and Zidovudine (Avudin), Abacavir, Lamivudine and Zidovudine (Tivizid) in the first line
and only one second-line ARV, Nelfinavir, which is presently not recommended by the
WHO’s ART 2008 Guidelines.

The first line ARVs market is heavily commoditized and the profit margins have
come down largely owing to extensive competition. Given that Bangladesh itself has a
very low percentage of persons infected by HIV/AIDS, the main market for Square and
Beximco would be export markets. It is unclear whether there is any price
competitiveness of Bangladesh firms, given that they important most of the APIs
required for the ARVs (see box 5), and the low economies of scale. Furthermore, the two
firms have been unable to cater to both domestic and export markets up until now
because they are not WHO pre-qualified. They also do not have a C1 status on the
Gobal Fund’s list,95 as a result of which they are not qualified to cater to Bangladesh’s
own procurement of ARVs using Global Fund grants.

China has a relatively strong pharmaceutical sector96 but since its WTO
accession in 2002, it is obliged to grant patent protection to pharmaceutical products as

95
C1 status implies WHO prequalification letter certifying the compliance of the manufacturing site with
WHO GMP requirements and proof of dossier submission to WHO’s Prequalification Program with
acceptance letter.
96
See Grace, 2004, footnote 78 above.

47
specified by the TRIPS Agreement. China could potentially play an important role by
providing a compulsory licensing-friendly legal regime, where local firms secure
compulsory licenses for exports, or even to fulfil local demand. However, up until now,
the Chinese regime has not issued any compulsory licenses despite the fact that firms
like Abbott and Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) protect their rights over Kaletra and Lamivudine
respectively in the Chinese market. In the case of GSK’s Lamivudine, although the
patent has expired globally, GSK enjoys a registration right on the product in the
Chinese market, which is a local form of protection. This allows GSK to deter generic
entry of the drug into the Chinese market.

5.1.2. Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Supplies for ARVs

An issue that emerged to be important in the field survey is the need to guard
against the threat of predatory pricing in ARV drugs. There are only five pre-qualified
producers of APIs for both first line and second line ARVs worldwide: Matrix
Laboratories,97 Hetero Pharmaceuticals and Aurobindo from India, and Desano and
Huahai in China.98 Aurobindo sells its ARV formulations only to the WHO and PEPFAR
and tenders directly from countries, outside their main commercial activity of selling APIs
to other Indian firms seeking to produce ARVs. Hetero and Matrix supply APIs to other
firms, but also compete with them in the final formulations both nationally and
internationally. Ranbaxy, Strides, Micro Labs, Emcure and Cipla mainly formulate the
ARVs for sale. This could create scope for the integrated firms (who produce both APIs
and the formulations) to hike up the price of the APIs, thus making it difficult for them to
compete in the final price for formulations of first and second-line ARVs. Whereas most
firms plan to continue the production of first and second-line drugs that presently a part
of their product portfolios, they expressed severe scepticism to enter newer segments if
the procurement of ARVs focused only on the price of the final product (field
interviews).99 Some of the formulator firms have made representations to WHO pointing
out to this problem, the receipt of which was also confirmed by the WHO during this
study.

Box 5.0 Securing Competitive API Supplies for ARVs100

The cost of API as percentage of total cost of finished dosage form varies significantly from
molecule to molecule. For instance, high value-low volume drugs like cardio vascular medicines
where it is common to have tablets of 1mg or 5mg may have higher component of the API when
compared to low value-high volume drugs (with tablets of 250mg or 500mg). The latter kind of
drugs will have relatively lower component of API in the cost of the finished dosage form. On
average though, one could consider API as 50% of total cost of finished dosage form. In the case
of ARVs, most firms in India and Bangladesh were of the view that API costs comprise around
40% the total cost of the finished formulation. In the case of very high API component drugs, such
as those for Cardiovascular system disorders, the API component of the drug could be as much
as 90%.

More specifically, the public tenders for ARV have focused on the cheapest price
supplier; most often the cheapest manufacturer not only wins, it wins the entire tender to
97
Matrix has a strategic alliance with Mchem in China for API production, but Mchem’s APIs for ARV
production are not yet pre-qualified.
98
Cipla has a 20% stake in Desano. Desano is WHO pre-qualified and Huahai is FDA approved.
99
All firms quoted the example of paediatric ARVs.
100
Dilip Shah, President of the IPA and other field interviews with ARV manufacturing firms and Dr. Satish
Reddy, Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.

48

the exclusion of the other firms that compete in the tenders. This undoubtedly led to
severe and quick price reductions in the market for first-line ARVs, but the procurement
guidelines may call for a re-think focusing more on both price and quality for second-line
and paediatric ARVs. Presently, it is quite likely that most firms are not really making
profits by supplying the ARVs, but continue to do so since they are already
manufacturing the drugs, and secondly, they may be compromising on quality in order to
cut costs by importing APIs from non pre-qualified manufacturers (field interviews). This
is unclear and could not be conclusively captured by the survey. However, given the
importance of India as a global generics supplier of second-line ARVs, and in the
interest of preserving incentives for further such drugs, it seems important to make sure
that such concerns do not materialise.

Several second-line ARVs are very complex structures to manufacture. All the
firms pointed attention to the inherent difficulties and the huge investments that they will
need to make in terms of production technologies in order to make newer and more
efficient processes for their manufacture. Lopinavir, for instance, has a twelve step
synthesis chemistry and is very difficult to duplicate and the Indian firms are not able to
offer huge price reductions over the patent holder firm for LPV/r mainly due to the
difficulties in synthesising the product. Similarly, Atazanavir is synthesized from four
different compounds and the production efficiency of the intermediates will dictate
generic price efficiency.101 Increasing access to medicines in these categories is
synonymous with increasing the incentives of firms to invest in mechanisms that
enhance production efficiency. National and international procurement guidelines may
need to be revised to reflect these concerns.

5.2. Malaria, Tuberculosis and Other Disease Segments

Malaria: The most common Artemesinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for first-line
treatment is Coartem, patent holder Novartis and ASAP, where the patent holder is
Sanofi Aventis. There are three Indian firms that produce anti-malarial combination
therapies: Cipla, Strides and Ipca, of which all do not have WHO prequalification for their
first line ACT, the generic version of Coartem. Ipca has WHO pre-quailification only for a
second-line therapy using artemesinin; namely Artemisin Amodiaquine. Strides has
developed its own technologies for ACT combinations and presently produces several of
them. The company has considerable acreage of Artemisinin (the plant that is used to
produce ACT drugs) in Vietnam. Ranbaxy’s joint collaboration with MMV for the
development of an anti-malarial drug has been discontinued recently, despite which
Ranbaxy has proceeded with the development of the drug. According to the field
interview with the company in April 2008, the drug is presently in clinical trials, and is a
substitute for the artemisinin combination therapy recommended by the WHO. However,
it is not clear whether Daiichi’s recent takeover of the company will impact upon this in
any way.

Tuberculosis: Strides and Lupin are also into the production of anti-tuberculosis drugs,
for both MDR and HDR Tuberculosis. Strides is the largest producer of first-line TB
drugs, for which it has developed the technologies in an alliance with Sandoz. Strides

101
Brenda Waning and Cherl Cashin, Development of a Simulation Model to Measure Potential Cost
Savings from Reducing Treatment Costs for Antiretroviral Medicines, DFID Draft, 25 March 2008, on file with
the author.

49

however, expressed scepticism to enter into production of second-line MDR TB drugs.

Lupin remains the sole API manufacturer within India for this segment.

Other public health drugs: As opposed to widely available drugs to treat opportunistic
infections such as Ciprofloxacin and Flucanozole, there are drugs for treating
opportunistic infections, such as Valgancyclovir and Valacyclovir that are not available
for use in resource-poor settings due to their high prices. The Indian patent situation and
the on-going dispute on Roche’s Valcyte (Valgancyclovir) could pave the way for
cheaper substitutes of such drugs. In the case of Valgancyclovir, Ranbaxy has recently
received market approval for the generic version of Valcyte, and Cipla plans to enter the
market with its own version of the drug in July 2008. There are huge price differences
between the originator firm’s price (which is somewhere between 900 to 1000 Rupees
for a 450 mg tablet, approximately between 20-25 USD) and Cipla’s price, which is
estimated to be around 240 rupees (6 USD). Several public health agencies, such as the
Clinton HIV and AIDS Initiative (CHAI) are keen to promote more widespread use of
drugs such as Valgancyclovir in developing and least developed countries102 and Indian
firms will potentially play a large role in this endeavour. The flexible patent interpretations
could also pave the way for cheaper generics of other important drugs to treat
opportunistic infections, which are presently being manufactured only by the patent
holder firm, such as Rifabutin, Famcyclovir and Valacyclovir.103

Drugs for lifestyle diseases: There is an increasing incidence of lifestyle and other
diseases that are associated with industrialized countries in India (WHO, 2007; see table
in Grace, 2005, p. 23) and the incidence of chronic diseases is forecasted to rise
substantially by 2015 (McKinsey, 2007). Coronary heart disease is expected to rise from
3.31% in 2005 to 4.91% in 2015, diabetes from 2.80 in 2005 to 3.70 in 2015, Asthma
from 2.5% in 2005 to 2.70% in 2015, obesity from 1.3% in 2005 to 2.7% in 2015, and
cancer from 0.18% in 2005 to 2% in 2015 (Ibid. p. 11). Changing disease portfolios of
Indians, with an increase in global diseases is a trend in favour of the firms, since the
prospect of an assured domestic market attenuates risk of failure in other international
markets. A major factor that may impact of availability of drugs in the local market may
however be the Indian government’s plan to bring over 300 drugs in various categories
under price control.

The Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy of 2006, expected to be enacted soon, contains

provisions to bring all medicines listed in the national list of essential medicines that has
been prepared in 2003 under price control. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing
Authority (NPPA) will then be in-charge of price control of the drugs as specified by the
pricing policy. It is unclear how the imposition of price controls on drugs is ensuring their
wider availability, especially against the backdrop of India’s own experience with drug
price control. The price of the drug is only one component in access to medicines, and
India’s past experience with price control shows that ensuring effective competition in
the local market (with public health as the primary concern) is perhaps the more
reasonable way achieve greater access. The Drug Price Control Order of 1979, which
brought 354 drugs under price control resulted in a huge investment hiatus from the
domestic firms between 1979 and 1986. Domestic firms simply changed their product
portfolios to avoid producing drugs that were under price control during this time. Since

102
Grace and Gehl Sampath, Potential Market Impact of In-Kind Donations to the Global Fund, A Report to
the Global Fund to Fight TB, AIDS and Malaria, Draft, 14 July 2008.
103
Same as above.

50

1986, successive price control orders, including the Drug Price Control Order of 1995
have focused on lower price controls with sufficient safeguards to ensure the growth of
competition in all key therapeutic categories, which have promoted abundance of
medicines locally.

All firms interviewed for the survey reacted aversely to the prospect, both domestic and
foreign.

6.0 Conclusions

This study has analysed the response of the Indian pharmaceutical sector to
product patent protection using both secondary and primary sources. The field survey of
49 firms based on a ranking derived using total revenues was used to understand the
variegated hues of innovation in the sector, factors that impact upon it including recent
regulatory changes in the patent regime and data protection, as well as changes in
global innovation environment for the pharmaceutical sector. The conclusions and policy
recommendations that arise from the analysis are presented here under three separate
headings: those of concern to the pharmaceutical sector, those related to the regulatory
environment and those that are directed towards enhancing access to medicines.

6.1. On the Pharmaceutical Sector

There is an emergence of a new industrial structure due to the gradual integration

of the Indian firms with the global pharmaceutical industry, increased modularization of
pharmaceutical innovation globally and outsourcing possibilities. Indian firms have
seized opportunities arising from pressures in the global innovation environment, but
they have also been innovative in building their own niches. To a large extent, their
model has been and continues to be one where they seek to disrupt global patterns of
innovation through the introduction of products that are cheaper, affordable and in some
cases, as in the case of the HIV/AIDS drugs, targeted towards the masses. In such
cases, the economies of scale results in benefits that only focusing on high-value added
products would not. Maintaining this diversified product portfolio is enabled by the strong
domestic base at home that offers an opportunity to manufacture drugs for a wide range
of diseases, including global diseases.

However, this mainstreaming of Indian firms into the global industry implies also a
greater sensitivity to changes in global regulatory structures that seek to favour
multinational firms and make it difficult for new entrants to establish themselves
globally.104 The recent Ranbaxy-Daichii Sankyo deal serves as a reminder of the
turbulent market in which the firms presently operate: the difficulties of integrating and
making a place in global innovation are as numerous as the opportunities they pose. The
global realities of pharmaceutical innovation is presently such that even established
firms in developed countries rely more and more on government sponsored
‘translational’ public sector research to create marketable products and venture capital

104
See Joyce Tait, Joanna Chataway and David Wield, “The Case for Smart Regulation”, Appropriate
Governance of the Lifesciences – 2, Innogen Policy Brief, 2007, where the authors note that global
regulatory initiatives have discriminated among particular products with the intention of enabling or
encouraging innovation in particular directions, for example the US FDA Fast Track and the Orphan Drugs
Act. They also note that the more usual pattern is that of structuring regulatory constraints on the
development of new drugs that support the reinforcement of current innovation models and industry
structures.

51

institutions are increasingly coming under strain. Indian firms, seeking to compete
globally in this changing scenario, will require much more strategic policy support by the
government.

This strategic governmental support should be aimed both at (a) encouraging firms to
disrupt patterns of global innovation in the pharmaceutical sector to create products for
the poor the world over, making medicines more accessible; and (b) to help them focus
their efforts on accumulating greater technological capabilities while maintaining their
strength as low-cost innovators of high-value pharmaceutical products. This will include
the following.

1.The role of the CSIR as a pro-active, industry-oriented public sector institute needs
to be revived apart from efforts to strategically allocate public sector resources to
support the firms.
2. A wider range of initiatives for enhanced collaboration between various actors in
the pharmaceutical innovation system needs to be put in place.
3. There is a need to re-think the relationship between price control and drug
availability and affordability that takes into account two important features of the
market:
a. The amount of competition in the market and the mark-ups in
pharmaceutical products (due to unregulated intermediary stages) before
it reaches the consumers;
b. The importance of encouraging practices amongst Indian firms that allow
for price discriminations between regulated and unregulated markets.
Their products are intrinsically cheaper at the present, but this might
become an issue in the future with rising costs of conducting R&D in
India.
4. There is a need to enhance incentives for firms to invest into anti-retroviral drugs
and drugs for Malaria and Tuberculosis. There have been no new entrants in the
ARV market over the past three years, except Emcure and Cadila and the
markets for Malaria and Tuberculosis remain largely stagnant. There is a need to
envision newer incentives that focus on how to promote R&D in India for these
diseases in addition to the production of generic versions.

The newly created Department of Pharmaceuticals could play a critical role in

enabling support structures of relevance to the sector’s performance and growth.

6.2. On the Regulatory Framework

The way the Indian patent regime is being implemented calls for legal clarity.
There is a need for greater clarity on what is patentable in India, when (and for which
categories) can local companies apply for compulsory licenses, and under what
conditions can patents granted within India be over-ridden by Indian firms. There is also
a need to establish clearly how patents will be granted and what procedures will be
followed for pre and post grant oppositions. In the absence of this, extended legal battles
between local firms, MNCs and civil rights groups are costly and difficult to sustain. India
also needs to establish that it can not only grant but also enforce patents on
pharmaceutical products in cases where the applications are consistent with the
requirements of the Indian Patent Act. The Tarseva case for example, leaves one
wondering about the sanctity of the patents acquired in India. It is clear that the patent’s
absence would be a major boon for public health. However, this decision needs to be

52

made at the ex-ante stage as to whether at all such products should be granted patents
in India.

That said, the spate of patent disputes shows how Indian legislators and courts are
seriously engaged in finding ways to promote access to medicines despite their
obligations under the TRIPS Agreement. This commitment is extremely valuable, and
should be fostered further through technical advice on how to achieve legal certainty in
interpretations of the Indian patent regime that balance the country’s obligations under
the TRIPS commitments and public health objectives.

There is a need for enhanced coordination (and not linkage) between the Patent
Office and the Drug Controller of India, which is in-charge of granting market approval to
all new drugs.105 There is also a need for more transparency in the workings of the
patent offices in the country. The Office of India’s Controller General of Patents, New
Delhi is now conducting an investigation on whether the grant of a patent on
Valgancyclovir (Valcyte) violated Indian patent rules. These forms of institutional costs
can be avoided by creating patent databases that allow for better functioning of the
Patent Offices around the country, and also help clarify the status of patent grants to
those interested in industry. Pre- and Post-opposition procedures also need to be
clarified, the Valcyte case again being a case in point.

It is still not clear why India needs a data exclusivity regime as suggested by the
Reddy Committee Report after the transition phase. Although the regime suggested by
the Reddy Committee is in the interest of public health, the question that looms large is
whether and if this regime will be implemented in its entirety eventually? As this study
shows, leaving out one or two stipulations of the report will have far-reaching
repercussions on public health.

6.3. On Enhancing Access to Medicines

This study shows that Indian firms continue to play a critical role as suppliers of
drugs for public health post 2005, especially HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and other
opportunistic infections. Given the fact that their presence has already brought about
some price reductions in Lopivanvir/Ritonavir similar to what was observed in the case of
first-line ARVs, and their potential to further enhance competition in existing and future
drug categories for these diseases, much more effort is required to expand the role as
well as interest more firms in focusing on product portfolios that include these drugs. The
lack of capacity (both regulatory and technological) in Bangladesh and the lack of
political willingness to grant compulsory licenses on drugs of importance to public health
in China reinforce the findings of this study on the role played by Indian firms. Given the
importance of capabilities and economies of scale to engage in such activities, scarce
international resources seem better spent to facilitate Indian firms to enhance their
activities, rather than focus on building capacity in sectors in other least developed
countries.

105
There is presently a debate on the statutory and public health implications of allowing a formal linkage
between the office of the Drug Controller of India and the Patent Office. It has been felt that making
regulatory approval contingent on clarity of patents on the product may delay generic entry, among others.
See “Is the Indian Drug Controller Participating in the ACTA Negotiations”, Managing Intellectual Property,
June 19, 2008, available at: http://spicyipindia.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-indian-drug-controller-
participating.html

53

 This study also shows that a large number of firms are focusing on global
diseases. Though this may be important, given the expanding number of persons with
global diseases in India and much of the developing world, there is a case for
encouraging Indian firms to invest further into R&D as well as generics production of
drugs that help cure HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB and other such neglected diseases. Such
efforts should go beyond production of generics, and target the creation of R&D
ventures, both through public-private partnerships and private-private initiatives. These
efforts should include a re-think on international procurement guidelines for ARVs in
order to focus them on price-quality rather than the cheapest price, in order to prevent
the scope for any predatory pricing practices amongst the generic producers. There is a
need to preserve maximum dynamic competition in this segment in the interest of global
public health. Most of the ARV producing firms interviewed for this study expressed
difficulties of working with tenders that merely focused on price to supply newer ARV
drugs that required greater technological inputs and increased formulation capabilities.

Specifically on the domestic regulatory strategies to enhance access to medicines

within India, there is not much correlation between local production and marketing
possibilities for various therapeutic categories of products and government’s access to
medicine strategies. Especially, there seems to be a very clear disjuncture between the
government’s plan to bring over 300 categories of drugs under price control and the
extent of competition witnessed in the market for key therapeutic categories. Mistaken
policy making in this regard may be detrimental to the interests of the sector at this point
of time. Price control should clearly be the solution only for those categories of drugs
where there are not many sources of cheap supply. In the absence of such a criteria, the
price control mechanism may be a severe disincentive to firms to invest in important
product categories. In the worst case, firms may just focus on export markets (earlier
experience with price control shows that firms simply discontinued manufacturing
particular products), at the expense of local public health.

54

Annex 1: Terms of Reference

Impact of India’s New Patent Regime on Access to Medicines in Developing

Countries

Background

Following India’s adoption of product patent protection in 2005 to conform with its WTO
obligations under the TRIPS agreement, an issue of concern has been the impact on
Indian firms’ ability to supply generic drugs in the local market and to other developing
countries. Prior to 2005, generic versions of drugs patented elsewhere produced by
Indian pharmaceutical firms offered direct price competition to international
pharmaceutical companies in third countries, thus enhancing access to medicines
worldwide. India’s present patent regime contains several interesting and important
flexibilities that allow the local generic sector to continue producing generic versions of
existing drugs at lower costs.

These include:
(a) Provisions to limit “evergreening” of patents;
(b) Provisions that enable firms to continue manufacturing generic versions of drugs
patented between 1995 and 2005, against payment of a “reasonable” compensation to
the original patent holder firm; and,
(c) Efforts to check collusions between firms that manufacture patented drugs and
generic firms, to delay introduction of generic versions of drugs; and,
(d) Provisions that encourage the production of generic drugs through compulsory
licensing, as envisaged by Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration.

Some of these provisions have been a source of controversy and legal action (as can be
seen in the cases of Gleevec and Tenofovir, amongst others). In particular the section
of the Indian law intended to restrict “evergreening” has been challenged by Novartis in
the Indian courts.

Moreover, because companies can now patent new products in India, it is uncertain how
this might affect the worldwide pricing and the accessibility of new products, and how, in
the absence of potential competitive pressure, pricing of the kind that has emerged to
date in the global antiretroviral market can be sustained. The extent of economic
incentives for firms to continue manufacturing drugs for other developing countries under
compulsory licensing is also not clear.

These issues call for a clear assessment of the implications of the present patent regime
and the uncertainties related thereto, on economic incentives of firms and access to
medicine issues.

Study focus

The purpose of this study will be to investigate the present patent regime and the state
of India’s pharmaceutical sector, in order to analyse its implications for access to
medicines. The analysis will review developments concerning the implementation of the
Indian Patent Act since Grace (2005). This will especially focus on the issues raised by

55

(a) the Mashelkar report (and its aftermath), (b) the Novartis case, and (c) the Reddy
report on data protection.

The main research questions will be:

(i) What are the developments since 2005 in the legal and economic framework in
India that have implications for firms’ behaviour and access to medicines? This
section will particularly focus on the issue of pricing and availability of second line
ARVs.
(j) How do emerging disease trends in the country (especially the growing
importance of non-communicable diseases) and in other developing countries
affect issues of availability and pricing of medicines in these segments?
(k) How important are issues related to transparency and registration of patent
information and the viability of a patent database for effective manufacture of
generics by the Indian firms? Transparency and registration of patent information
is an issue that affects the way most Indian firms deal with the emerging
situation. In a survey of the sector in 2005, most firms interviewed complained
about the difficulties in obtaining patent-related information from the patent office,
and that such a lack of information affected their product choice and often also
led to losses since they invested time to reverse engineer drugs without having
information on process/ product or formulation patents on them (Gehl Sampath,
2005). Improving the efficiency of the patent office to disseminate patent-related
information could help firms deal with the emerging situation in a very important
way.

Methodology

The study will be based on secondary data as well as a survey of top Indian firms, in
order to assess the implications of the new developments in the legal and economic
framework on firms’ behaviour and constraints. The questionnaire survey will be
conducted using semi-structured questionnaires, in conjunction with a local team, and
will be substantiated through extensive interviews with company executives, as well as
other key informants, such as those from Ministries of Health, Petrochemicals, Industry
and Commerce and the Patent Office.

56

Annex 2: List of People Interviewed

People Interviewed
No. Names and Affiliations
1 Dr. B.P.S Reddy, CEO, Hetero Pharmaceuticals
2 Tapan Ray, Director General, OPPI
3 Aloka Sengupta, Vice President, ATM, Strides Acrolabs Limited
4 Dr. Shipla Patel, Medical Director, Wyeth Limited
5 Hasit Joshipura, Vice President, South Asia and Managing
Director, India Operations, Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals
Limited
6 Shirish Ghoghe, Senior Director, Sanofi Aventis
7 M. G. Rao, Executive Vice President, Unichem Laboratories Ltd
8 K. Subharaman, Head, Legal and Company Secretary, Unichem
Labs Ltd
9 Ulhas Joshi, Vice President, Strategy and Business Development,
Unichem Laboratories Ltd
10 Uday Baldota, Vice President, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd
11 Glenn Saldanha, Managing Director and CEO, Glenmark
Pharmaceuticals Ltd
12 N. V. Ramana, Executive Director, Divi’s Laboratories
13 Sudarshan Jain, Director-Marketing, Abbott India Limited
14 Dr. R. Sankaran, Senior Director, Intellectual Property Rights,
Dabur Research Foundation
15 Dr. Surendra Tyagi, Chief Scientific Officer, Dabur Research
Foundation
16 Dr. S. Padmaja, Vice-President, Intellectual Property, Aurobindo
Pharma Ltd
17 Dr. J. M. Khanna, Executive Director and President, Life Sciences
Division, Jubilant Organosys
18 Dr. Satish Reddy, Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Reddy’s
Laboratories Ltd
19 Dr. Raj Kumar, President, R&D and Commercial, Dr. Reddy’s
Laboratories Ltd
20 Gurdial Singh Sandhu, Joint Secretary (Pharmaceuticals industry),
Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals
21 Rahul Kapadia, Ipca Laboratories
22 Dilip Shah, President, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance
23 Jaideep Godgay, Medical Director, Cipla Pharmaceuticals
24 Deepali Talwar, Director Legal Services and General Counsel,
Pfizer Limited
25 Anglo French Drugs & Industries Ltd.
26. Francoise Renaud-Thery, WHO AMDS
27. Boniface Dongmo Nguimfack, WHO AMDS
28. Yves Marchandy, MSF
29. Dai Ellis, Clinton HIV and AIDS Initiative
30. George Baguma, Quality Chemicals, Uganda

57
 Annex 3: Top Indian Pharmaceutical Firms Surveyed

Top Indian Pharmaceutical Firms Surveyed

No. Pharmaceutical Firm No. Pharmaceutical Firm
1 Shasun Chemicals and Drugs Ltd. 26 Claris Lifesciences
2 Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd. 27 Torent Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
3 PI Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 28 Medicamen Biotech Ltd.
4 Penam Laboratories Ltd. 29 Strides Acrolabs Ltd.
5 Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 30 East India Pharmaceutical Works Ltd.
6 Vivimed Labs Ltd. 31 Ind-Swift Laboratories Ltd.
7 Granules India Ltd. 32 Dr. Morepen Laboratories Ltd.
8 SMS Pharmaceuticas Ltd. 33 Ku-dos Chemi Co. Ltd.
9 Haffkine Bio Pharmaceuticals 34 Venus Remedies Ltd.
Corporation Ltd
10 Emmellen Biotech Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 35 Nectar Lifesciences Ltd.
11 Neuland Laboratories Ltd. 36 Surya Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
12 Divis Laboratories 37 Arch Pharmalabs Ltd.
13 Sven Genetech Ltd 38 Transchem Ltd.
14 Natco Pharma Ltd. 39 Pfizer India
15 Matrix Laboratories Ltd. 40 Marksans Pharma Ltd.
16 Aurobindo Pharma Ltd 41 Ind-Swift Lab. Ltd.
17 Suven Life Science 42 Malladi Drugs & Pharmaceuticals
18 Cadila Pharmaceuticals 43 Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
19 Zydus 44 Panacea Biotech Ltd.
20 Arvind Remedies Ltd. 45 Jagsonpal Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
21 Genom Biotech Pvt Ltd. 46 KDL Biotech Limited
22 Intas Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. 47 J.B. Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
23 Apex Laboratories Ltd. 48 Unichem Laboratories
24 Aristo Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. 49 Hetero Drugs Ltd.
25 Anglo French Drugs & Industries Ltd.

58

Annex 4: List of Top 100 Companies for the Firm-Level Survey

Top 100 Pharmaceutical Companies

Company City Total Net Profit Fiscal
Revenues (Loss) ($. Year
($. Mn) Mn)

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. Hyderabad 1,146,456 298,771 Mar 2007

Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. Gurgaon 1,024,179 158,159 Dec 2006
Cipla Ltd. Mumbai 945,659 169,594 Mar 2007
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Mumbai 633,529 159,667 Mar 2007
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. Hyderabad 543,960 58,157 Mar 2007
Lupin Ltd. Mumbai 542,424 75,649 Mar 2007
Jubilant Organosys Ltd. Noida 495,103 58,769 Mar 2007
GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Mumbai 453,277 138,489 2006
Nicholas Piramal India Ltd. Mumbai 449,731 47,799 Mar 2007
Cadila Healthcare Ltd. Ahmedabad 428,256 51,968 Mar 2007
Wockhardt Ltd. Mumbai 315,171 54,214 2006
Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Chennai 278,825 24,532 Mar 2007
Aventis Pharma Ltd. Mumbai 260,576 42,978 2006
Ipca Laboratories Ltd. Mumbai 259,033 31,031 Mar 2007
Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Ahmedabad 236,936 28,677 Mar 2007
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Mumbai 230,891 34,222 Mar 2007
Panacea Biotec Ltd. NewDelhi 220,129 37,271 Mar 2007
Pfizer Ltd. Mumbai 208,888 26,842 2006
Matrix Laboratories Ltd. Secundrabad 201,610 25,288 Mar 2007

59
Divi's Laboratories Ltd. Hyderabad 185,410 48,680 Mar 2007
Alembic Ltd. Vadodara 181,140 17,944 Mar 2007
Novartis India Ltd. Mumbai 155,773 22,480 Mar 2007
U S V Ltd. Mumbai 154,133 34,268 2006
Unichem Laboratories Ltd. Mumbai 144,872 22,869 Mar 2007
Nectar Lifesciences Ltd. Chandigarh 144,293 14,280 Mar 2007
JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Mumbai 143,412 18,030 2007
FDC Ltd. Mumbai 125,976 16,332 2007
Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Mumbai 117,017 12,498 2007
Strides Acrolabs Ltd. Bangalore 116,095 9,185 2006
Ind Swift Ltd. Chandigarh 112,435 5,275 2007
Plethico Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Mumbai 110,465 32,584 2007
Shasun Chemicals & Drugs Ltd. Chennai 107,631 9,718 2007
Merck Ltd. Mumbai 97,743 33,854 2006
Arch Pharmalabs Ltd. Mumbai 96,055 7,659 2007
Ind Swift Laboratories Ltd. Chandigarh 94,245 4,915 2007
Indoco Remedies Ltd. Mumbai 88,713 10,673 2007
Surya Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Baddi 88,393 6,014 2007
Wyeth Ltd. 85,331 23,448 2007
Dabur Pharma Ltd. NewDelhi 84,308 6,410 2007
Unimark Remedies Ltd. Mumbai 83,331 6,377 2006
Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals Ltd. Ahmedabad 80,673 15,453 2007
Aristo Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Mumbai 80,249 14,476 2002
Astra Zeneca Pharma India Ltd. Bangalore 78,979 12,374 2006
Aarti Drugs Ltd. Mumbai 78,071 3,242 2007

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Claris Lifesciences Ltd. Ahmedabad 76,146 5,438 2005

Marksans Pharma Ltd. Mumbai 74,600 1,759 2007
Ankur Drugs & Pharma Ltd. Mumbai 70,137 7,101 2007
Hikal Ltd. Mumbai 67,228 8,571 2007
Ajanta Pharma Ltd. Mumbai 64,986 3,481 2007
Neuland Laboratories Ltd. Hyderabad 56,558 2,295 2007
Natco Pharma Ltd. Hyderabad 56,159 7,733 2007
Burroughs Wellcome India Ltd Mumbai 55,539 (1,475) 2003
Twilight Litaka Pharma Ltd. Pune 52,430 3,577 2007
Granules India Ltd. Hyderabad 50,140 2,569 2007
S M S Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Hyderabad 50,094 5,324 2007
Organon India Ltd. Mumbai 48,766 4,552 2006
Arvind Remedies Ltd. Chennai 46,438 1,112 2007
Themis Medicare Ltd. Mumbai 45,476 2,110 2007
Raptakos, Brett & Co. Ltd. Mumbai 44,212 3,935 2006
Sharon Bio-Medicine Ltd. Mumbai 43,592 4,265 2007
K D L Biotech Ltd. Mumbai 43,041 (3,440) 2007
Solvay Pharma India Ltd. Mumbai 41,767 4,755 2006
Fulford India Ltd. Mumbai 41,274 3,237 2006
Albert David Ltd. Kolkata 41,196 3,349 2007
Wanbury Ltd. Mumbai 41,120 5,288 2007
Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Mumbai 38,396 3,707 2007
Venus Remedies Ltd. Panchkula 37,261 7,291 2007
Hiran Orgochem Ltd. Mumbai 35,067 274 2007
Jagsonpal Pharmaceuticals Ltd. New Delhi 34,461 711 2007

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Blue Cross Laboratories Ltd. Mumbai 34,125 5,121 2005

Morepen Laboratories Ltd. New Delhi 32,874 (42,452) 2007
R P G Life Sciences Ltd. Mumbai 32,681 2,092 2007
Suven Life Sciences Ltd. Hyderabad 29,010 2,874 2007
Jupiter Bioscience Ltd. Hyderabad 28,246 4,775 2007
Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises Ltd. Vadodara 27,855 (7,504) 2007
Vorin Laboratories Ltd. Secunderabad 26,017 (2,442) 2003
Vivimed Labs Ltd Hyderabad 25,887 2,777 2007
Kudos Chemie Ltd. Chandigarh 25,154 1,830 2007
Medley Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Mumbai 24,245 658 2005
Anuh Pharma Ltd. Mumbai 23,199 1,744 2007
East India Pharmaceutical Works Ltd. Kolkata 23,153 625 2007
Mangalam Drugs and Organics Ltd. Mumbai 22,529 193 2007
Apex Laboratories Ltd. Chennai 22,054 840 2006
Anglo French Drug & Industries Ltd. Bangalore 20,434 71 2007
Avon Organics Ltd. Hyderabad 19,812 (4,796) 2007
Bal Pharma Ltd. Bangalore 19,784 513 2007
Transchem Ltd. Thane 19,416 378 2007
Fem Care Pharma Ltd. Nashik 18,568 3,181 2007
S T S Chemicals Ltd. [Merged] Mumbai 17,827 823 2005
Sanofi-Synthelabo India Ltd. Mumbai 17,205 840 2006
Flamingo Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Mumbai 17,179 8 2005
Shilpa Medicare Limited. Raichur 17,113 1,782 2007
Lincoln Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Ahmedabad 16,621 764 2007
Syncom Formulation India Ltd. Mumbai 16,024 1,036 2007

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Medicorp Technologies India Ltd. Chennai 15,915 (2,770) 2003

Medicamen Biotech Ltd. New Delhi 15,862 383 2007
Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd. Chennai 15,288 487 2007
Malladi Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Chennai 15,286 3,120 2002
Dey'S Medical Stores Mfg. Ltd. Kolkata 14,648 411 2006

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