Ranbaxy Plans Local Buyouts (India)
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
Ranbaxy Laboratories plans to buy companies in India, a market that is expected to rank among the world's biggest in the next eight years. "We would certainly acquire a couple" of drugmakers, Malvinder Singh, chief executive officer of the Gurgaon-based company, said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China. The Indian market is expected to see "a good amount of consolidation" in the next five years, he said. India's patent laws were tightened in January 2005 to recognize product patents and stop the copying of medicines patented after 1995 by using a different manufacturing process. That may hurt drugmakers which aren't engaging in new drug research or those that don't have a strong generics business overseas, making them acquisition targets. "Small and mid-sized companies will find it tougher to survive in this environment," said Sarabjit Kour Nangra, an analyst with Angel Broking in Mumbai. "New product introductions are going to come down, which will cap their growth." (Click here for more