Indian Pharma players grab the opportunity as US Patent expiries enter the market

2010-12 period is the most lucrative for the Indian companies as 26 major drugs with total sales of $69 billion are set to lose patent protection.

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Recently, US Pharma market, although the world’s largest was seen dwindling as it grew a meagre 1-2% in 2009, in comparison to emerging economies in Asia and Latin America, such as Brazil, Turkey and Mexico which have been growing at a healthy 14-15% annually.

But the impending patent expiries are set to turn the tide in favour of the US again.

Though it is common knowledge that the price of the drug drops by as much as 80-90% once the patent expires, estimates by HDFC Securities suggest that Indian Companies could be looking at an average potential of Rs. 12,000 crore per year.

Although, for that Indian companies aren’t the only one’s in fray. There is bound to be stiff competition from global generics players like Teva(Israel), Apotex (Canada), Sandoz (Germany) and Actavis (Iceland).

However, experts feel the scale will be tipped in favour of Indian Companies to some extent on account of the fact that production costs in India are 35-40% lower, mainly due to cheaper manpower.

Opportunities Galore.....

Drug	Innovator co	Indication	Annual sales(2008)	Patent expiry	Indian generics co
Cozaar	Merck	Blood pressure	$3.5 bn	2010	Ipca,DRl,Lupin
Gemzar	Eli Lilly	Cancer	$1.7 bn	2010	Sun Pharma,DRL
Aricept	Eisai	Alzheimer’s	$2.5 bn	2010	Ranbaxy,Sun,Torrent
Lipitor	Pfizer	Cholesterol	$12.4 bn	2011	Ranbaxy,Lupin,Torrent
Zyprexa	Eli Lilly	Schizophrenia	$4.7 bn	2011	Sun,Cipla,DRL
Plavix	BMS	Heart diseases	$5.6 bn	2011	USV,Ipca,Aurobindo
Seroquel	Astrazeneca	Schizophrenia	$4.5 bn	2012	Lupin, Cipla,Divi’s
Viagra	Pfizer	Erectile Dysfunction	$1.9 bn	2012	Cadila, DRL, Hetero
Singulair	Merck	Asthma	$4.3 bn	2012	DRL, Matrix
Diovan HCT	Novartis	Hypertension	$5.7 bn	2012	Lupin, Ranbaxy, Alembic

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