Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Apr 29, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Apr 29, 2004 |
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Corporate
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Interview Pfizer studying launch of Pharmacia products P.T. Jyothi Datta
Mr Kewal Handa, ED (Finance), Pfizer
Mumbai , April 28 "LIFE is not about growing up or growing old. It's about making sure you never stop growing," is a quote that catches your eye as you browse through pages of financial information in an annual report from Pfizer. Apt for a pharma multinational, whose interface with people through products such as cough syrup Benadryl, antacid Gelusil or the famed impotence drug Viagra is established and growing. Growth being the key word on any corporate honcho's mind, Pfizer Limited's Executive Director-Finance, Mr Kewal Handa speaks to Business Line on what lies ahead for the pharmaceutical behemoth. The country is on the threshold of the product-patent regime, January 2005. But has the exclusive marketing rights (EMR) experience, which landed up in litigation, left a bitter taste? We feel that India is committed to product patents. Which ever Government comes, it would take up the (product patent-related) legislation by December 2004. Of course there is a backlog, patent applications are around 30,000 in the Patent office. There is the task of clearing the backlog, as most of the products will come in by 2005/ 06 or 07. In the recent EMR case, the Government gave the EMR and the Courts upheld it. Things are moving in the right direction. But the flurry of litigation that followed? What is critical is that EMR was granted and the right has been approved. There are people who are opposed to it and have gone in litigation. But the Government has given the EMR and the Court has upheld it. We are in a transition phase where we will see things happening to patents and then, matters will settle down over a period of two to three years. Given the litigation environment, what is critical is that courts take a clear decision early, realising that a patent has a life. Such cases should be taken on a fast track and cleared. So will Pfizer bring in more products from its parent post-2005? Pfizer portfolio in India today — out of the 10 doable Pfizer brands, we may have launched three or four brands in a year. We are looking at aligning ourselves and looking at whether we can launch products in India simultaneously with global launches. That would be our vision in Pfizer. Going forward, globally we have the largest number of products, it has a big pipeline that is coming in. So we would be focusing on it. Yes, but some big products are going off-patents as well. Products going off-patents have global implications. But for Pfizer India, these products are being launched or are here already. Since there is no product patent, there is no loss of exclusivity for the company in India. So where does growth come from? We are a strong marketing company with a good field force. We create value out of innovation. We are looking at some Pfizer products that are globally available, but have not been launched locally. We are looking at the entire Pfizer portfolio, including products from the recently merged Parke-Davis or globally acquired Pharmacia. There is a team that is working on this and will come to a final conclusion on how many products we can pick-up in 2004 or 2005. So as I am speaking there is team working on this. Any brand rationalisation after the Parke-Davis merger? Portfolio rationalisation, new product launches - right now the exercise is on. Part of the exercise would look at how the products should be promoted and what should be rationalised by way of divestment or licensing. By the end of this year we should be in a position to take a call on this. Pfizer Inc had planned to set up a subsidiary and had got Government clearance? That was before Pfizer acquired Parke-Davis. We got approval from Government to set up a subsidiary and then we went into the merger process. Parke-Davis, the subsidiary of Warner Lambert (which was merged with Pfizer Inc) is now a 100 per cent subsidiary of Pfizer. The Pharmacia merger brought two companies - Pharmacia Healthcare Ltd (where Pfizer Inc holds 75 per cent shares) and Pharmacia India Pvt Ltd (a 100 per cent subsidiary). So now we have two subsidiaries and one listed company where Pfizer is holds 75 per cent. At this point in time we don't want to get back to the old approval that Pfizer got because it doesn't, make sense. Which means it has been put on the backburner? We have not even registered it. It is just a paper approval. It's been put on the back-burner completely. The decision is with Pfizer Inc whether or not to pursue the application. My feeling is that they would not want to pursue it. The Pharmacia merger is believed to be operationally done? Operationally we have integrated the Pharmacia companies in India and we are exploring the possibility of merging the two listed companies. One can get synergies in terms of cost etc. So we are exploring the possibility of a merger between Pharmacia Healthcare and Pfizer India (where Pfizer Inc hold 40 per cent) and once we have all approvals, this would be taken up at the board meeting. This would require the Courts to appoint the valuers, the board to adopt the valuation report, this goes back to the Court, followed by the shareholders approval that is required. Will this happen this year? If Pfizer US and the board approvals come, we can kick-off the process. Our time frame is another one or two months and we should be in a position to get the exercise started. You have had a recent tie-up with Sanofi and Bayer late last year. It is a thrust area for us. We are looking at tie-ups with MNCs and Indian companies for co-promotion or marketing, because of our field-force. We can market the product better and add more value to it. Earlier we had an alliance with Shanta Biotech, though the alliance ceases to exist now. This is one of our strategic thrust areas. The process is on, once we identify our products for the market, that is when the licensing decision will be taken.
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