Merged pharma companies:

Merged pharma companies:

As another generic company – Sun pharma has join hands with multinational pharma -Merck to push for branded generics in developing countries, the availability of cheap and affordable generic medicines is further threatened.

In the past few years, there has been a series of high-profile foreign takeovers of Indian pharma firms in the last two years. Among others, Daiichi Sankyo bought Ranbaxy, Abbott bought Piramal Healthcare Solutions, and Sanofi bought Shantha Biotech. Members of the civil society believe that the acquisition of large and medium Indian pharmaceutical companies by MNCs will make the use of TRIPS flexibilities redundant..

There is a strong apprehension  that Cipla, one of the largest producer and supplier of ARV drugs in the developing world may be next in line for either merger or acquisition with some big Pharma!!!

Read the article below about Sun pharma’s merger with Merck:

Merck and Sun team up to push branded generics in emerging markets:

Merck & Co has now joined some of its peers in forging an alliance with front-line Indian firms to accelerate its emerging markets thrust. Merck has entered into a joint venture with Sun Pharmaceutical Industries to develop, manufacture and commercialise ‘new combinations and formulations of innovative branded generics’ in the emerging markets. The joint venture would cover the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

For Merck, the move is key to plugging ‘strategic gaps’ in emerging markets, where it currently ranks fifth (IMS Health, 2009),a contrast with it second ranking globally.

“We are making good progress executing on our emerging markets growth strategy by establishing novel partnerships and strategic alliances. This joint venture helps position us for leadership in the fastest growing geographies,” said Kevin Ali, Merck’s president for emerging markets at a press conference in Mumbai. MSD, as Merck is known outside of the US and Canada, expects sales from emerging markets to account for more than 25% of total pharmaceutical and vaccine sales in 2013.

Adam Schechter, executive vice president of Merck, said that innovative branded generics are expected to address an increasingly ‘huge unmet need’ for quality affordable medicines in emerging markets. “The combined strength of MSD and Sun will deliver against this pressing need. We are striving to provide a whole new level of convenience and compliance for patients,” Mr Schechter said.

MSD will offer its clinical development and registration expertise and broad commercial footprint across continents to the venture, while Sun, seen as a cost-effective, nimble but aggressive player, will bring in its rapid product development expertise, manufacturing network and proprietary platform technologies developed by its spun-off, listed R&D arm, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC). “The critical value driver for the partnership is the innovative delivery technology capability from SPARC,” said Dilip Shanghvi, chairman and managing director of Sun.

Mr Shanghvi, however, said that products covered would have a ‘relatively long to medium” investment phase before they start generating cash flows.

The joint venture, industry analysts say, is perhaps among the key definitive arrangements with a large MNC towards monetising some of SPARC’s intellectual property– namely its innovative platform technologies. Among a string of other projects, SPARC is known to be developing a pro-drug of gabapentin, and had also initiated Phase III studies in the US for an antispasticity medication, baclofen GRS, an extended-release capsule formulation of baclofen which uses its proprietary gastro-retentive innovative device (GRID) technology (scripintelligence.com, 25 May 2010).

Other pipeline products include paclitaxel injection concentrate for nanodispersion (PICN) and docetaxel injection concentrate for nanodispersion (DICN).

Both partners did not share financial details on the JV or specific products that they intend to market, but said that the JV will be managed by a joint board and leadership team, comprising senior management from both companies.

Merck told Scrip that the JV board will be working to identify “recommendations of combinations and formulations based on disease areas in the emerging markets” and bring them before both companies to decide which they should move forward on. “The new formulations and combinations [are] designed to enhance convenience and improve compliance for patients. The joint venture is expected to produce new and better medicines to the people in the emerging markets, customized for local markets and developed with emerging markets’ needs in mind,” the company said in response to specific queries from Scrip.

Emerging markets, which are expected to drive 90% of the world’s pharmaceutical growth in future, with about 75% of this growth coming from branded generics, continue to lure large multinationals ( MNCs), faced with slow or flat sales in large Western markets and patent expiries of mega products. Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca are among those that have sewn up alliances with Indian firms to tap emerging markets.

Selected ties between multinationals and Indian firms

Multinational	Indian partners
Merck	Sun Pharmaceutical
Pfizer	Aurobindo, Claris Lifesciences, Strides Arcolabs
GlaxoSmithKline	Dr Reddy’s Laboratories
AstraZeneca	Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Intas Pharmaceuticals and Aurobindo Pharma