Just when you thought you had beaten malaria, dengue, typhoid and a myriad of other seriously threatening sounding diseases, along comes the mother (or father, in these politically correct times) of all threats , something so big that it makes even a bout of diarrhea look like a walk in a filthy Delhi park The aptly named Delhi Super-Bug( Mumbai or Chennai Bug just doesn’t have the same ring to it) supposedly with its menacing tone and promise of great evil, has created such panic among the capital’s already harried citizenry, that it would appear most of them have simply given up. Last seen, hordes of Delhi-zens were seen packing their bags and heading towards the simple life, migrating towards one of the many hamlets dotting our rural landscape, where thankfully due to govt foresight, dinking water is still a distant threat.
Given the wide variety of viruses/bacteria that our country currently has to offer, and the ten new ones that are bound to crop up sooner or later, it’s no wonder that India has fast risen to the top of the priority charts of most global Pharma majors, with the last few years alone witnessing a number of similar high profile alliances, notable among them being the ones inked by Bayer with Zydus Cadila recently and GlaxoSmithKline with Dr Reddy's a couple of years back.
Against this background, the recent news of a tie-up between Sun Pharma and Merck, announced on the 11th of April, 2011, comes as yet another reminder of the many charms the Indian market holds for companies willing to explore the opportunities on offer. The strategic collaboration , ostensibly to jointly develop, manufacture and commercialize new combinations of innovative branded generics (affordable versions sold under a brand name) in emerging markets, further reinforces India’s standing as the prime player in the global generics realm, while at the same time affording MSD to expand its footprint in fast-growing emerging markets of Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa- widely seen as the growth engines of the future, on account of the enormous un-met demand that exists for drugs addressing multiple illnesses across the board. Whether it’s heart ailments, hepatitis or diabetes, emerging markets are expected to account for nearly 90% of global pharma growth, and Indian and pharma majors would be more than happy to cash in. However, if there is an Achilles’ heel in Indian pharma’s quest for global generic dominance, it would have to be its inability to come up with innovative new products, and that’s precisely where we can expect MSD’s expertise in the research domain to be invaluable, allowing Sun Pharma to leverage the New Jersey headquartered company's considerable existing strengths to help it come up with new solutions for the Indian market. Merck, one of the seven largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, both by market capitalization and revenue (US$ 45.987 billion as of 2010), has had a long tradition of research-led innovation at the global level, and it can be expected to continue with its emphasis on coming up with new products in its latest venture as well –in fact, the JV already speaks of plans for development of eight to ten molecules over the coming period of time.
For the moment, though, the JV has already boosted Sun Pharma’s share prices, clearly indicating the optimism prevalent amongst shareholders at large about the future of the strategic alliance. I just hope they come up with some way out of this Bug syndrome that we are stuck with - by the time the Rampur bug makes its first appearance, I hope I won’t have to pack my bags again.