The Hindu Business Line : AstraZeneca has big plans for India

ASTRAZENECA Plc plans to increase its business commitment in India, especially in view of the impending changes in the Indian patent laws that would bring them in line with developed countries, according to its Chairman, Mr Percy Barnevik.

Mr Barnevik placed the plans in the context of the company's "big push" in developing countries. He said other developing countries such as Egypt and Mexico also figured in the company's plans.

Mr Barnevik, who is on a personal visit, felt India offered promise in the areas of research and development (R&D) and clinical trials. "I believe India is underestimated," he said.

AstraZeneca Plc, which runs its Indian pharmaceutical business through AstraZeneca India, opened an R&D centre in Bangalore last year. Mr Barnevik said the Bangalore R&D unit was promising.

He was talking to Business Line in Kanchipuram, about 60 km from here, when he was on a visit to a non-governmental organisation with which he is involved.

The Bangalore R&D centre started with an investment of $10 million and is focused on research in tuberculosis (TB) - there has not been a single new TB drug in the market in the last 30 years. The centre is one of the four AstraZeneca R&D labs that focuses exclusively on drug discovery. The other three labs are located in the US, France and Canada.

Mr Barnevik said that he had played a role in AstraZeneca's focus on the developing world. He felt it was important to be in developing world markets at an early stage to make most of the eventual growth. In this context, he added that he had been associated with India through different companies for 40 years.

AstraZeneca's optimism about its Indian operations comes in the wake of its decision to de-list its shares from Indian stock exchanges. The parent company owns about 92 per cent of the equity in the Indian entity, and it has started the process to buy out the remaining shareholders.

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