India and universal healthcare: follow-up

A drug industry event on healthcare access last week provided an opportunity to connect with Dr Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India and the man who led the team that authored a state-funded report on Universal Health Coverage for all  Indians, released late last year.  Dr Reddy gave the keynote address at the …

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Think different : Big Pharma and drug pricing in emerging markets

I'd like to introduce a guest column by Salil Kallianpur, a healthcare marketing professional with experience in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries. Salil is an avid reader and follower of healthcare current affairs, its politics, and strategies.  He comments on the intersection of healthcare and life on his blog My Pharma Reviews. He is …

FDI in pharma : India’s quick fix

India seems set to reverse a ten year-old policy governing foreign direct investment (FDI) in pharmaceuticals.  If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gives his nod to the recommendations of an inter-ministerial group then automatic approval for FDI in Indian drug companies will be capped at 49 per cent.  Beyond this limit, a foreign investor will have …

Beyond Glivec : Balancing innovation and public health

I'd like to introduce a guest column by Dr Kristina Lybecker, Associate Professor of Economics at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Kristina is an economist with a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. She specialises in innovation and intellectual property rights and has been writing on these issues for 12 years. She is …

New kid on the block : Shantani raises seed funding

Pune-based Shantani Proteome Analytics,  a two year-old drug research and development (R&D) company, has raised seed funding (less than $1mn) from Bangalore's India Innovation Fund.  Shantani is founded by Chaitanya Saxena (pictured), a former research scientist at Indianopolis-based Big Pharma company Eli Lilly.  Funding details haven't been disclosed. Shantani is focused on one specific aspect …

Five questions to ask about India’s proposed free drugs programme

India's ambitious plan to provide free medicines to its people has received worldwide attention. For details see here.  It's no secret that the world's largest democracy also spends an abysmally low percentage of GDP on healthcare. This is a belated attempt to correct that. In theory, this is a welcome move.  In an earlier post, …

India drags its feet on a marketing code for drug companies

Online and offline media have extensively covered the $3bn fine levied by the US government on UK's GlaxoSmithKline for illegal and unethical marketing of a clutch of brands. See here. Back in India, drug companies are apparently above reproach. It's over a year since India's department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) published a draft code of marketing …

Cipla hires former Teva/GSK honcho to head global respiratory

Mumbai-based generic drugs producer Cipla has recruited Frank Pieters a former senior vice-president at global generics leader Teva of Israel to head its European business, said two persons familiar with the development. India's third-largest drug maker by sales has also put Pieters in charge of its global respiratory portfolio which has a pipeline of high-potential …