Drug firm MSD India today said it is looking for commercial partnerships, such as the one that it has with Sun Pharma, to expand its product presence in the domestic market.
"We are looking at commercial partnerships. We are very open to commercial partnerships that will expand presence of our products in the country," MSD India Managing Director KG Ananthakrishnan said.
MSD India had earlier entered into a partnership with domestic major Sun Pharmaceuticals in 2011 to market diabetes drugs Sitagliptin and Sitaglipitin plus Metformin in India, which has a high disease burden of type 2 diabetes.
He was speaking on the sidelines on expansion of 'Join My Village', a initiative that supports girls and women in developing nations in India.
MSD India is an affiliate of Merck & Co Inc that operates in more than 140 countries around the world.
The company is also looking to forward to add to its product pipeline in the core areas such as diabetes, vaccines, women's health, oncology, respiratory and critical care.
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"In last year and year-and-half we launched several new products in India and at a responsible price point. Our aspiration is to have a leadership role in the areas in which we are present," he added.
On being asked if the company is looking forward to increasing its manufacturing partnerships in India Ananthakrishnan said: "We already have 14 manufacturing partnerships. So we now have enough capacities for meeting our volume requirements".
MSD operates in India via three separate legal entities MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, Organon India Ltd and Fulford India Ltd, the company said.