Pharma firms team up to spread reach

Leading pharmaceutical companies like Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's, Lupin and Glenmark are teaming up with other domestic companies for strategic manufacturing and marketing alliances to boost their international business operations.

Recently, Ranbaxy Laboratories tied up with the Hyderabad-based Zenotech Laboratories for the global development and marketing of G-CSF (filgrastim) to mark Ranbaxy's foray into the biosimilar drug segment.

Ranbaxy has already signed two such agreements with Zenotech and has invested in the company to develop its manufacturing capabilities. Zenotech develops and manufactures 11 generic oncology products for the US and Canada markets for Ranbaxy and also supplies oncology injectible products for marketing in Latin American markets, including Brazil, Mexico, Russia and other CIS countries.

About two years ago, Ranbaxy had entered into an in-licensing agreement with another domestic major, Lupin Laboratories, to market the latter's tuberculosis drug, Akurit, in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Algeria, Chad, Mauritania and Congo.

Another recent example is the alliance between Dr Reddy's Laboratories and the Baroda-based Torrent Pharma to exclusively commercialise two of Torrent's cardiovascular drugs - Listril (Lisinopril) and Listril Plus (Lisinopril HCTZ) used for the treatment of high blood pressure - in Russia.

Torrent and Dr Reddy's have another marketing arrangement related to Reddy brand Omez D, a gastro-intestinal drug, for the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus markets.
A similar manufacturing supply pact exists between Glenmark and Shasun Drugs and Chemicals for the joint development, filling and marketing of 12 generic pharmaceutical products for the US market. All development, regulatory costs and profits on sale in the US are to be shared equally between the partners.

"These alliances show how our domestic companies can jointly leverage each other's strengths to tap global markets, and such alliances will increase in future. A company like Ranbaxy or Dr Reddy's have direct global presence. Large companies will explore leveraging manufacturing core competencies of small manufacturers than setting up own production facilities," an analyst said.

Sources point out that business growth in the generic space require a large portfolio of products and it is impossible for the manufacturers to develop technology and infrastructure for all the drugs. Strategic alliances and innovation is key for growth and Indian companies can leverage the domestic synergies.