At long last, there appears to be some relief in sight for millions of Indians suffering from that most insufferable of afflictions-and no, it’s not premature balding, as bad as that itself may be. The malaise I refer to over here, my friends, happens to be one that goes by the name of diabetes mellitus- or diabetes for short. Now don’t get me wrong- I am not in the habit of keeping a list of the Ten-Most-Desirable-Diseases-To-Get, but just in case someone does, it is bound to figure pretty high up on it. And why not? Not only do you get stuck with endless rounds of painful injections of insulin, you can’t even think of having a bite of your favourite Ferrero Rocher as consolation at the end of it.
Thankfully and not a day too soon, Astra-Zeneca, a leading light of the Pharma universe, has decided to come to our rescue. With a Rs.20,000 crore market for the picking, Astra Zeneca in collaboration with Bristol-Myers had launched its globally successful diabetes drug Onglyza in India early last year– the first country in Asia to have got a dose of its global success story. While the Onglyza may be one drug most of India was eagerly looking forward to, the Anglo-Swedish giant, which happens to be the seventh-largest pharmaceutical company in the world, has set its sights on a number of other sectors as well. The Indian operation of the UK headquartered firm is involved in five major therapy areas -cardiovascular, oncology, infection, respiratory and neurosciences-with its major focus being on the cardiovascular franchise-one of Astra Zeneca India’s key focus areas. In fact, the company plans to strengthen its cardio-vascular portfolio with the launch of 7-8 new products in the days ahead, including a product line comprising entirely of India specific generics. Now that has to feel good- when pharmaceutical companies start coming out with products specifically targeting your country, you know you have really arrived in the big league-that Security Council seat we have been hankering after should be just around the corner now.
To be sure, before you get the impression that the company is part of some conspiracy to get us all back onto our butter chicken and gulab jamun gorging ways, we would do well to note that Astra Zeneca also happens to be engaged in cutting-edge research that could help save lives- and millions of them. In 2001, Astra Zeneca became the first company in the world to set up a dedicated research centre to find a cure for Tuberculosis in Bangalore- one of the 11 centres of excellence which have been set up to work exclusively on diseases of the developing world - an initiative that promises to bring a ray of hope into the lives of millions of TB sufferers across the globe. As further evidence of its commitment to the cause, The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) and AstraZeneca recently announced that they have entered into a research collaboration agreement to accelerate the discovery, development and clinical use of drugs against tuberculosis (TB), including drug-resistant strains of the disease.
For the short term though, I look forward to the introduction of more drugs that will allow us to indulge our sweet tooth. Diabetic or not, the idea of Rasgulla Lite is something we could all do without.