The Hindu Business Line : Ivax Corp keen to expand tie-ups in India

Mr Frank Condella, President (European region), Ivax Pharmaceuticals, told newspersons that the company has had a good experience with partnerships in India over the last six years.

He indicated that Ivax was interested in expanding on its partnerships in India and that would include acquisitions, when the opportunity presents itself.

It already has co-developed products with Indian companies such as Nicholas Piramal, Wockhardt and RPG.

Ivax has about 50 products under development with Cipla for the US market and is interested in expanding this collaboration, he said.

Mr Condella was in the city to participate in ABN-Amro global generic pharmaceutical meeting. Meanwhile, the meeting looked at the opportunities in store for Indian generic drug manufacturers, especially in the US and Europe.

The use of generic drugs has moved up in the US — from 18 per cent of total prescriptions in 1984, generic drugs cornered 47 per cent of new prescriptions in 2003.

However, Mr Ton Gardeniers, Managing Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Chemicals, ABN-Amro, sounded a note of caution. The Indian generic drug maker will have to waddle through a tough and competitive operational environment.

He pointed out that pricing pressures are intense on me-too drugs and entry barriers are low, resulting in a sharp drop in the value of drugs the moment they go off patent.

However, another representative pointed out, competitive pressures notwithstanding, drug companies still had healthy margins in the 20-25 per cent range.

The order of the day in the generics business will be "creative alliances" to keep the business going, a participant said.

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