[Ip-health] Ranbaxy buy may hit generic drugs supply

[Gopa Kumar]

 Ranbaxy buy may hit generic drugs supply

'Will the aggressive strategy continue under Daiichi Sankyo?'

'The generic orientation could get influenced under the new owner and
that would affect the supply of low-cost medicines to patients in
India'


P.T. Jyothi Datta
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Mumbai, June 12 Drug-maker Ranbaxy may have got a revitalising shot
through its stake sale to Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo, but the
transaction is not without its sceptics in the health advocacy
circles.

Will Ranbaxy be able to pursue its aggressive strategy to produce
generic medicines, or will the specialised orientation of Daiichi
Sankyo prevail, is what worries us, a representative with the Centre
for Trade and Development told Business Line.

Ranbaxy has been aggressive in supplying generics, like anti-AIDS
drugs, to developing countries, the company has participated in
pre-grant oppositions in India (where a patent application is opposed
before the Patent Office takes a decision) and it has been able to
make similar versions of drugs like Tamiflu, used in the case of
bird-flu, even as the patent situation was not clear.

This generic orientation could get influenced under the new owner and
that would affect the supply of low-cost medicines to patients in
India and other developing countries, the Centad representative said.

Corporate mergers and acquisitions in the pharma segment should not be
viewed with the same lens as a regular corporate deal, as it could
affect access to medicines, he added.

The Daiichi Sankyo-Ranbaxy deal could be a trigger for more such
acquisitions of local medicine producers by multinational companies.
So, the Government needs to study the impact of this transaction and
though it cannot ban companies from merging, it certainly can try and
ensure that the supply of medicines does not get affected in the long
term, he added. In a liberalised economy, if you are in it for a
penny, you are in it for a pound too observed, Dr Amit Sengupta, of
the All India People's Science Network, indicating that people will
have to go with the outcome of the deal. The bigger picture is that
companies are less interested in manufacturing medicines and prefer to
shift to just trading.

Ranbaxy's decision to sell majority stake in it to Daiichi Sankyo
continued to be top of mind, not just among health advocacy workers,
but also among distributors and trade channels. "I have got calls from
stockists and C&F agents from the morning, asking what will happen
down the line," said Mr J.S. Shinde of the All India Organisation of
Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD). Until the deal is sealed, the impact
will not be felt on the ground, he said. It may take another two-three
months before even the first impact is felt, in terms of whether the
two companies have over-lapping products and whether then products
would be trimmed.

But such worries have not yet trickled down to pharmacists, as one
chemist said: as long as the two companies keep the medicine supply
going, it does not matter who was bought out and by whom.

Related Stories:
Daiichi Sankyo to buy 51% in Ranbaxy at Rs 737/share
Ranbaxy to serve Japanese generic ambitions
Ranbaxy R&D spin-off

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