Daiichi Sankyo says Sayonara to India; terminates contract of 170 employees

The company's closure of R&D establishment in Gurgaon marks its exit from Indian market

Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo marked its exit from the Indian market with the closure of its Research and Development establishment in Gurgaon.

The company will terminate the contracts of its 170 employees. In an e-mail response to Business Standard's query, the company said, "We plan to resolve labor contracts after reaching agreements with all DSIN employees."

Employees Business Standard spoke to said that end of January would be their last working day. An employee said, "The Company is providing us with adequate compensation and there is no tussle with the management." 

Daiichi Sankyo acquired Ranbaxy's R&D businessin 2008 with about 200 scientists for $4 billion. The company spent 200 Billion Japanese Yen as on October 2016 on research and development. 

Daiichi SankyoLife Science Research Centre in India (RCI) is affiliated with the Research Function and conducts researches on respiratory and infectious diseases. 

In a statement, the company said that it is reviewing its global R&D system with the aim of decreasing R&D operations costs and redistributing the resources to the further development of its R&D pipeline.

Daiichi's journey in India wasn't a smooth one. When it entered the Indian market with an intent to strengthen its business, various Ranbaxy plants were under the USFDA scanner. Its other research centres - two in Japan and one in Germany among others - focus on areas such as oncology, heart and kidney. 

The situation of the employees is quite contrary with that of AstraZeneca, a British drug maker that sold its antibiotic business to Pfizer. After AstraZeneca sold its antibiotics business to Pfizer in August, the company laid off at least 50 employees.

While the company offered compensation to the laid-off employees, there were massive protests by the Federation of Sales Representatives of India and some of the employees who were given the pink slip. The company stated that this was in line with the company's plan to re-work its India business strategy.

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