The Indian Connection

There is a potentially eye-opening article in the November issue of PharmaTimes on the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Of interest was the following comments on the top-selling products:

The top 10 best-sellers make for interesting reading. The number one product is Phensedyl cough syrup, sold by Piramal, and in third place is Pfizer’s Corex – another cough syrup…

With a population of 1.2 billion, India is an attractive market for big pharma looking to expand their sales. However, as the article notes, the market in India for branded pharmaceutical products as we have in the West is tremendously challenging:

• The market is highly fragmented, with over 30,000 companies in India selling generics, branded generics, and branded prescription products
• Branded generics make up ~84% of the market, with OTC only 8% of the market. As an example, there are 58 brands of pioglitazone available in India.
• The top selling product, Phensedyl, is a $45 million product, followed by Mixtard (insulin) at $42 million and Corex at $39 million

So how can a pharma company make money in India? Clearly partnerships with local companies in India make a lot of sense. Local partners can be especially valuable in helping to navigate the emerging intellectual property situation in India. This is a strategy we wholeheartedly agree with, and are executing for our own clients here in the US. Future posts will expand on our thinking on how to navigate this large, diverse, fascinating market.

UPDATE: An interesting question…is Japan perhaps the Real Emerging Market?